Le Petite Fleur
by Le Blanc Tulipe
Summary: Stubbornness runs in the family, and Lily has inherited a lot of it. Throughout all of the fights, drama, romance, and pride, we see the entire family grow and the little flower blossom.
1. Chapter 1 – Family Background

**Obligatory Disclaimer: I own none of the Harry Potter world; except my OCs which will come along later. :)**

The Boy Who Lived may have survived the Dark Lord (multiple times at that), fought in a war, and was now serving in the Ministry as an Auror, but somehow, that did not compare to raising three children. James, Albus, and Lily had certainly inherited plenty of Weasley genes. James had levitated himself into a tree at 18 months old, which sent his parents into a tizzy as it took more than an hour to get him down. Albus had gotten peeved at Rose when they were 5 and sent various utensils chasing her about the kitchen before their grandmother came in and set everything back in order. Lily wanted to fly like the birds when she was 3 and had thrown herself from the second floor in the home which resulted in a panicked trip to St. Mungo's and a broken arm.

Needless to say, it was quite a relief once they set off to Hogwarts as it would give their poor, exhausted parents a bit of a break. The siblings were a bit less than happy. Being a part of such a huge family made them all very close. Lily had cried herself to sleep for an entire month when James went off for his first year. The two of them shared a special bond that Albus couldn't quite compete with.

James was of course sorted into Gryffindor joining his practically brother Teddy Lupin, and his many Weasley cousins: Fred, Roxanne, Dominque, Louis, and Lucy. Victoire had been placed into Hufflepuff while Molly was sent to Ravenclaw. It was no surprise when James joined the Quidditch team second year as a Chaser alongside Louis and Dominique and the twin Beaters, Fred and Roxanne. James did nothing to break the mold.

Albus, on the other hand, turned quite a few heads when he started at Hogwarts. While Rose joined most of the family in Gryffindor. Albus shocked the entire Wizarding community by being sorted into Slytherin. His parents were not disappointed in the slightest, but his Uncle Ron pitched a fit. Ginny laid into her older brother which shut him up around them. Unfortunately, Ron was loud and proud about his opinions when talking to his son Hugo and niece Lily. James was also quite a vocal opposition of his brother being put with "the snakes" After a long talk with his parents, he gave his brother a chance, but still was not pleased by the situation at all. Even with most of the family in vocal support of Albus' House, Lily could not let go of her prejudices. She loved her brother to the ends of the earth, but had small feelings of betrayal towards Albus.

The next shock came not in the form of Albus joining the Slytherin Quidditch team his first year as their Seeker, but in his choice of a best mate. Once the Potter kids had returned home for the Christmas holidays, James loudly told his parents that Albus had gotten chummy with "that Malfoy boy." While his parents were a bit upset at the start, after a long talk with each other and Al, they decided old prejudices should be let go and new chances should be given. Even though they approved, the information was kept at bay for as long as possible. This only lasted until summer holiday when Albus came to his parents one morning and asked if he could meet his best friend at Diagon Alley. Harry had choked on his coffee and Ginny had frozen for a second. She recovered first and told him she would be happy to let him go. Once news reached the family, a huge blowout fight amongst the adults had erupted. It took days for the dust to settle. Once it did, the adults had decided if Harry and Ginny could let it go, they could at least be indifferent to the situation as a whole; all but Ron and George.

An apparent, but never confirmed, lunch had occurred between Harry and Draco at some point that summer when a "truce" had been declared. Neither were particularly overjoyed at the situation, but did not want it to have negative effects on their children. Harry felt as if he would be adopting ancient Slytherin views if he refused to allow Albus to be friends with someone simply because of a name. Draco, on the other hand, thought it would be a big step forward if he let family grudges go. So Albus and Scorpius continued their friendship with no added strains of family disappointment; for the most part. After all, Lucius and Narcissa had not been told.

The years passed quickly for the parents and slowly for the children. At long last, Hugo and Lily, the youngest of the bunch, would finally join their siblings and cousins at Hogwarts.


	2. Chapter 2 – All Sorted Out

**Thanks to fanHPTW and SB- Potterhead Budgie Lover for leaving me my first reviews. Enjoy chapter 2 everyone! :)**

To say Lily was excited to be going to Hogwarts would be a masterpiece of an understatement. She had been talking about it nonstop all summer, driving her brothers crazy. Even Hugo, who was starting along with her, could not match her enthusiasm. Now the time had come for them to join their many family members. Lily was bouncing off the walls all morning and asking when they would leave every 5 minutes. When it was finally time to leave, Lily could not get everyone in the car fast enough.

Once they arrived at King's Cross Station and made their way through the barrier, they were met with the sight of the Weasley clan. There were redheads scurrying about the platform, loading things onto the train, and hugging their family goodbye. Lily was immediately overwhelmed and grabbed her father's hand. He chuckled and glanced down at his only daughter. She had gone quite pale and her deep, brown eyes scanned the station nervously. Harry squeezed her hand and walked towards Ron and Hermione who were doting over an annoyed Hugo.

"Lily!" Hugo shouted when he saw his favorite cousin headed his way. Maybe now he'd be free of his parents' nagging for a few moments. Lily let go of her father's hand and rushed forward to throw her arms around the boy, nervousness forgotten. He stumbled back slightly and they both laughed.

"There's my little Lily-bug!" A broad smile broke on Ron's face at the sight of his youngest niece. "Where's your hug for your favourite uncle?" Lily rolled her eyes but the smile did not fall from her face. She let go of Hugo and turned to receive Ron's bear hug. He let her go, ruffling her flaming, red hair and put an arm around Hermione. The Potter's arrival at the station had drawn the attention of the rest of the family and they started to drift together. Lily was now scooped up from behind by George who was promptly scolded by his wife, Angelina, as Lily's squeals echoed throughout the station. If you hadn't noticed the Potter-Weasley clan yet, you had now.

"First year at Hogwarts, eh? Unless you don't think you can go this year. I'm sure it'd be alright with your parents if you waited a year," he teased as he set her down.

"No way!" Lily shot back. "I've been waiting for ages and ages to go. I'm ready!" George chuckled in response and drew her in for another tight hug.

"Oh but I'll miss you coming around the shop, Little Red," he admitted. Lily stopped by Weasley's Wizard Wheezes every free moment she had. She'd never admit it, but George was her favourite uncle. Okay, _one_ of her favourite uncles. She had a tough time choosing between George and Ron. George released her and turned back to his twins, Fred and Roxanne, who were squabbling over something as usual. Lily noticed everyone's attention was focused on someone else at this point and felt her anxiety begin to bubble up again in the pit of her stomach. She was over the moon to finally join her brothers and cousins at Hogwarts, but she was still apprehensive about leaving her parents, making friends, and doing well in her classes.

"Flower?" Lily turned to see Teddy Lupin striding towards the group. The metamorphmagus was currently sporting golden locks to represent Gryffindor, the House he had been in, and where most of the family had ended up. Lily beamed at the sight of him. Teddy was basically another brother to her and she adored him. His long strides helped him make his way across the train station quickly to meet Lily. She threw her arms around his neck and he lifted her up and brought her tightly to his chest. "Merlin, Lils! First year already. I can't believe it." They stayed in a embrace for a minute longer before he lowered her back to the ground. "You'll write to me every week, right?" Lily could only nod in response, afraid that if she tried to speak, she'd break down into tears. Teddy bent over to kiss the top of her head before greeting his godfather.

The next few minutes were all a blur for Lily and Hugo as their stuff was taken aboard and they rushed through goodbye hugs and kisses. Once Lily was certain her calico kitten Olivia was safely in a compartment, she turned to tell her parents goodbye. She hadn't even hugged her mom before Ginny broke down in tears muttering something about her "baby." After a hurried hug, Lily turned to her father. She could tell he was fighting back emotions as he knelt down to look her in the eyes.

"You'll be wonderful, flower," he whispered. Lily couldn't hold back anymore and she threw her arms around her father's neck as she let a few tears slip out.

"Love you, dad." She squeezed him tightly before letting go and climbing up on the train to stand next to Hugo. They stood there waving goodbye to their many family members as the train pulled away from the station. Lily waved until she couldn't see her parents anymore and then stood and watched the trees pass by. She only moved when Hugo tugged her sleeve with an encouraging smile. "I find you in a bit," she told him. She watched as he weaved his way through other students to the compartment at the end of the car where most of the family was waiting.

She knew if she waited much longer, there would be a search party sent out for her. So after a few moments and a couple of deep breaths, Lily started towards the compartment. Her eyes were downcast and her lack of awareness led here straight into the frame of another person. They both stumbled back a bit as Lily drew her eyes up to see who she'd bumped in to. "Oh, Merlin! I'm sor-" The apology was caught in her throat as she took in the boy's almost familiar features. He was tall and lean with the palest skin she had ever seen. His white-blonde hair was gelled back for the most part, except for a few strands that hung loose around his eyes. Hie eyes were were what caught her attention. They were a striking icy, blue color. Her breath caught in her throat for a moment and she dropped her gaze in an attempt to regain her sense of composure. In looking away, she didn't see his slight smirk. "Sorry," she muttered, embarrassed. The boy chuckled but before he had a chance to response, they were joined by another person.

"Alright, mate?" Albus Potter poked his head out from the compartment, addressing Scorpius. He followed his friend's stare and locked eyes with his sister. "Lils!" he said excitedly. Albus stepped out from the compartment and gestured to Scorpius. "I see you've met Scorpius here."

"Scorpius?" Lily's question was almost more of a statement. That's why he looked somewhat familiar to her. This was the Malfoy heir. She had seen pictures of him and his family in dozens of newspapers and from afar at the odd Ministry function her family attended. What puzzled her was why Al seemed to be so comfortable around him. Amongst all of the family controversy with Albus being placed into Slytherin and making friends with a Malfoy, the kids had been kept out of the loop for the most part. Lily and Hugo had no idea they were best mates at this point because their parents thought it best to let them make their own opinions. Unfortunately, Ron had been quite vocal around the two of them about his dislike for the Malfoy family and they already had strong feelings of dislike. Lily face was twisted up into a small scowl as she tried to process the situation.

"Lily?" Albus' voice brought Lily back into reality and she looked up at her brother. "You alright?"

"How do you know him?" Lily had wanted to keep her question merely curious, but she knew her tone came out accusatory.

"Well...we're in the same House," he replied as if it were the most obvious fact in the world. "And he's my mate." Lily's eyes widened as she looked from one boy to another. It probably was a comical sight. "Wha-" instead of listening to her brother complete his thought, she brushed past both of them and hurried to the compartment at the end of the car, her long red hair flowing after her. "Lily!" Albus called after his sister. Lily slid the door shut behind her clumsily and the passengers all turned to her.

"Lils," James, who was seated by the door, greeted his sister and gently yanked her down into the seat next to him. "Alright?" he asked once he noticed his sister's odd look.

"When were any of you planning on telling me that Albus is friends with that Malfoy boy?" she demanded of everyone. All of the talking, joking, and game-playing ceased as the attention fell on the youngest member of the family and her angry question. Rose looked up from her book worriedly as she knew all hell was about to break loose. While most of the family was already aware of the friendship, Lily's testy temper was about to fire them all up. "Well?"

"Wait," Hugo spoke up. "What? He's mates with who?" He jerked his head to look at his sister who buried her nose back in her book and prayed that this would all end soon and without any bloodshed. Hugo looked around to his cousins for an answer. "Bloody hell, guys."

"Hugo, language!" Rose scolded.

"Bugger off, Rose."

"Hugo, don't talk to your sister that way," Lucy entered the argument in defense of her cousin.

"Oh Merlin, lay off the kid," Roxanne shot back.

"Is anyone going to answer me?" Lily angrily asked.

"Yeah! Why didn't anyone think to tell us about this?" Hugo backed Lily up.

"Calm down you two," Rose scolded her younger brother and cousin. "It's not that big of a deal"

"Oiy, don't downplay it. Somebody should have warned them," Louis joined the fight.

"Why? It shouldn't matter!" Lucy said exasperatedly.

"It bloody should matter!" James shouted. "They have a right to be angry just as well as we do. And we should be!" This started a verbal war amongst the entire family that lasted nearly the entire train ride. By the time they had pulled into the train station, Lily and Hugo had been told the whole story. As expected, they were not happy and sided against Albus.

"Alright, guys. How about we settle down and discuss this later. These two need to think about the sorting now," Rose broke up the fight and guided Lily and Hugo out of the train. "We'll see you later," she smiled at them before heading off to the carriages. Hugo and Lily joined the rest of the first years on the boats and before they knew it, they were standing in the Great Hall. They waited hand in hand with baited breath for their names to be called.

As expected, Hugo and Lily both joined Gryffindor which caused quite a pleased ruckus amongst the family. Once Lily had joined her brother and cousins at the table, she felt odd, as if somewhere were staring at her. She glanced up across the Hall and met her brother's brilliant, green eyes. He offered her an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. Even through her anger at him, Lily still mustered up a small smile. She wished he could be next to her right now in Gryffindor. Her eye's drifted slightly to the left and locked with the icy, blue ones she had seen earlier. Scorpius smiled at the youngest Potter in an attempt to win favour but only got a small scowl in return. Lily turned her attention back to the ceremony and didn't look back to the Slytherin table for the rest of the night.

The feast ended eventually and all the students made their way back to their dormitories in high spirits. James threw an arm around his sister and they chatted idly until they reached the common room where they parted ways.

Lily snuggled under her blankets with a smile on her face. She was finally at Hogwarts and she couldn't wait to make a lifetime worth of memories.


	3. Chapter 3 – Last Bit of Background

**This is the last bit of background stuff before I get into the nitty-gritty of the story. I just figured it'd be best to start with some sort of foundation before I went on with the plot. As always, thanks a million for the reviews and enjoy. :)**

Lily took first year by storm. She was a model student in all of her classes by day and a bit of a troublemaker by night. James, Fred, Lily, and Hugo spent quite a bit of time in the corridors unleashing havoc on unsuspecting students with the latest Weasley's Wizard Wheezes products. Much to the chagrin of her parents, and the delight of her Uncle George, Lily managed to spend quite a few evenings and weekends in detentions. She also left quite the impression on her fellow students and made herself some good friends. Alice Longbottom was the daughter of Neville, the Herbology professor at Hogwarts. She and Lily had been friends since they were toddlers and even when Alice found herself sorted into Hufflepuff, the two promised to stay close. Lily and Alice met another girl their year from Ravenclaw named Avery Watson whose older brother Lawrence was actually a Gryffindor and a close friend to James. Hugo bonded with a some guys his age in Gryffindor: Elliot Jordan, son of Lee Jordan, and Grayson Wood, Oliver Wood's son. The six students hung out on and off and in different group combinations and grew quite close through shared interests and school struggles.

Lily chose not to try out for Quidditch her first year but that didn't stop her from going to every single game no matter which House was playing. Quite a lot of her family was on the Gryffindor team, including James, and thought she'd never admit it, she always rooted for Albus to catch the Snitch in all his matches. Often times, James would invite Lily down to the pitch to play a game with the family "just for fun." What he wouldn't admit was that he was coaching Lily so she was sure to get the Seeker position on the team next year. Albus had inherited their father's remarkable Quidditch ability, but Lily always gave him a run for his money. With plenty of practice and encouragement, she could certainly match Albus' skill.

While Lily grew closer to James, she began to drift away from Al. She loved Albus and would do almost anything for him, but it was difficult for her to set aside her prejudices and come to terms with the fact that he was in Slytherin. Rose, who was close with both boys, had taken it upon herself to fill Lily's mind up with facts on how the House wasn't all bad.

"Merlin was a Slytherin you know," she mentioned one afternoon while they sat by the Black Lake working on homework. "Snape too. You know how much your dad talks about him in his stories." Lily always brushed off her comments and stayed firm in her beliefs.

Albus got off easy when it came to Lily's hostility. She would still talk to him, hang out with him, and on the rare occasion tackle him a bear hug. Scorpius, on the other hand, was not so lucky. Lily, for the most part. would not even acknowledge the boy's presence. If he was around she would avoid any and all eye contact. If he happened to pass her in the halls and offer a friendly greeting, she would only scowl in response. The only time she spoke directly to him was if Albus or Rose were around and got onto her about manners.

"Come off it, Lily! Don't be so bloody rude about it," Albus would scold. Lily responded the same way every time: coldly muttering back, "Malfoy," in acknowledgment. Then she would turn on her heel and march in the opposite direction. Albus would turn to his friend and apologize for his sister's behavior, but Scorpius would always shrug it off. He was used to be treated this way; he just wished his best mate's brother and sister were a little more friendly around him...or friendly at all. But Lily was still young and impressionable. Eventually she would grow older and wiser. Scorpius hoped at some point she would form opinions of her own and become at least be semi fond of him.

Christmas holidays came and Lily was ecstatic to be returning home for a few weeks to spend time with her parents and Teddy. About halfway through the break, Albus asked if it would be alright if Scorpius came over so they could practice some Quidditch moves. When he arrived at the Potter residence, Lily took one look at him and marched over to the fireplace. She tossed a handful of floo power at her feet and announced Ron and Hermione's address. She ranted and raved to her uncle and Hugo all afternoon. They listened to her and nodded along in full agreement. That evening when she returned home, her parents said nothing about the matter. Albus, however, brought it up over supper.

"Why'd you floo to Ron and Hermione's this afternoon?" he questioned in between bites of vegetables.

"I think you know why," Lily scoffed, shooting a glare across the table.

"Why do you have to be like that?" Albus demanded dropping his fork on his plate.

"Sod off, Al!" James defended his sister.

"Kids, please." Ginny ran a hand through her slightly greying hair and sighed.

"He started it, mum." James threw the blame on his brother. "He's the one that invited... _him_ over."

"James," Harry warned.

"Forget it. I'm not hungry anymore." Albus pushed his chair out from the table and stomped up the stairs. Harry and Ginny had a long talk with James and Lily that night about the way they were treating their brother. They both felt slightly guilty about making Albus feel awful and later, Lily went up to Albus' room to apologize. She softly knocked on his door and waited until he grunted in response to enter. When she stepped in the room, she saw her brother lying face down on his bed in a pile of blankets and pillows.

"Al?" she said, approaching the bed timidly. When she got no response, she huffed and closed the gap between them. "Well if you're going to be that way." Lily climbed up on the bed and started jumping, sending the pillows flying everywhere.

"Merlin's beard, Lily!" Albus shouted sitting up. "What?" She stopped bouncing and sat down next to him.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to make you feel so bad. I know sometimes you don't think I love you," she muttered staring down at her hands, "but I do." After a moment of silence, she looked up to meet his brilliant, emerald eyes. There was a softness to them that made her know she was forgiven.

"You're bloody hard to stay mad at, you know?" Al smiled at Lily and pulled her into a tight hug. "I love you too, Lils."

Students returned to Hogwarts a few weeks later and before they knew it, the second term was over. That summer, the Potter-Weasley family spent countless hours in the gardens of the Burrow playing Quidditch in preparation for the next year. Ravenclaw had won the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup for the past three years and they were determined to break that streak. The Seeker position on the Gryffindor team would be open and Lily loved getting to spend time with her cousins while also practicing which would increase her chances of getting picked for the team in the fall.

Lily's second year came and the family returning to school was slightly smaller. Fred and Roxanne had graduated the previous year. Fred's presence would be missed horribly by Lily, James, and Hugo as Fred has been the instigator for most of the pranks. The three vowed to continue in his stead. Meanwhile, Fred was off to run the joke shop with his father, while Roxanne had been signed as a Beater with the Chudley Cannons. This was the first time in their lives the twins had taken different paths.

Tryouts for the Gryffindor Quidditch team were held one rainy Sunday morning early in the year. James, Louis, and Dominique would be returning as Chasers and Grayson Wood resumed his position as the Keeper. Lily's friend Elliot Jordan made the team as one of the Beater's while the other position went to Jackson Holmes. He was a Muggle-born and in the same year as Albus. Regardless of his non-magical background, he was quite good on a broom. It was no surprise that Lily filled the last spot on the team as their Seeker. Dominique, the Captain of the team that year, insisted she would have no special treatment simply because she was family. That being said, Lily was the clear pick for the position and James was thrilled his sister would finally be joining him on the Quidditch pitch.

Second year stayed relatively uneventful besides the end of the year when the two teams competing for the Quidditch cup were Slytherin and Gryffindor. It seemed like the entire school showed up as well as Harry and Ginny since all of their children were playing in the match. Albus and Lily ended up being pretty even as far as talent but Lily was much smaller which gave her extra speed. In the end, she caught the Snitch and Gryffindor won. Most of the school swarmed the pitch shouting with joy. James hoisted Lily up on his shoulders so all could offer up praises at her miraculous final moves.

The year came to a close before they knew it and that summer Albus traveled to Egypt with Scorpius and his mother for a month. He wrote letters back home which Lily refused to read until no one was looking. Lily had her own adventures that break when Avery invited her and Alice over to her home in Paris for a couple of weeks. Avery's parents were high and mighty in the wizarding world for no other reason than they came from rich families. James and Jennifer Watson were privileged enough not to work so the entire family spent most of their time traveling. They also attended most Ministry functions which is where the Potters and Weasleys became acquainted with them. Jen was a vivacious woman so she was more fun to spend the evening with than stuffy Ministry officials.

Year three brought nothing incredibly noteworthy to the family besides Molly's engagement to some high and mighty Ministry man. The family attended her wedding over Easter holidays which turned out to be a lovely event. That year, Slytherin managed to win the Quidditch cup which did not go over well with the Gryffindor team. Dominique had yelled for about an hour about how arrogant and cocky James was getting and how they could have won had he acted like a member of the team. James was thrilled that this was her last year on the team. He figured if she were to return as Captain, he'd be kicked off.

That summer, George asked Lily if she would be willing to help out in the shop with him and Fred. Business was going so well and they needed to hire more full-time help soon, but they were glad to have Lily around short-term. Lily, of course, was delighted to spend time with one of her favorite uncles and cousin. She also liked getting a first hand look at the products she would most likely end up using on her fellow students.

Lily's fourth year was James' last, and she was determined to spend as much time with him as possible. The only trouble with that was he had a lot of studying to do for his NEWTs. They did have tons of Quidditch practice and would spend the odd weekend together unleashing a masterminded prank or traipsing about Hogsmede. Lily grew closer to her friend's this year in the absence of her brother's company. She and Avery had already bonded from the summer spent together, but she got to know the Gryffindor boys a bit better.

She got to know Elliot Jordan a little too well for her liking. He asked her to go on a date with him to Hogsmede one Saturday and she accepted. Where was the harm in trying out a relationship with a friend? The date went alright enough, but she discovered they really didn't have all that much in common and she was not attracted to him in the slightest. He, unfortunately, thought the date went splendidly and asked her to go out again. Avery and Alice helped her figure out a way to let him down gently. She didn't want to lose him as a friend, but she knew dating was not the right dynamic for them. He was a bit miffed at first but saw Lily was still making a big effort to stay close and got over himself. Lily wouldn't notice, but Elliot spent the next few years pining in his head about what could have been.

Although Lily's detention count had gone down quite a bit since Fred left, one particular evening, she got herself into a heap of trouble and gained detentions for the next three Sunday afternoons. She was walking from the dungeons to the Great Hall after a Potions class when she rounded a corner and ran into Malfoy and Andrew Kane, a Beater on the Slytherin team and quite an oaf in Lily's eyes. She had muttered a hasty, meaningless apology before attempting to scurry past the boys. Kane blocked her steps.

"Hold up, sweetheart." Lily shuddered at the way he called her "sweetheart." She was looking at the floor and didn't notice the way Scorpius scowled at his House-mate. "How 'bout a proper apology?" Lily looked up from the floor with fire in her eyes. Scorpius didn't know Lily all that well since she wouldn't come near him, but he recognized that look in her eyes. He had seen it in Al's eyes when he was particularly frustrated.

"What?" she snapped back. Scorpius had to admire her for this. The kid had guts. Andrew was 6'8" and fairly large. He was a sixth year and although he wasn't very bright, would not be afraid to whip out a nasty curse on the girl. He was also a prideful Slytherin that wouldn't dare let a little girl talk back to him.

"You heard me, love." Andrew bent over so he could be closer to Lily's face. "I want a genuine sorry. I can always force one out of you. I'd like to hear you scream." Scorpius didn't even have a chance to reach his wand before Lily had decked Kane in the face. Even with his stature, he fell back to the floor, hands to his now bloody nose. Then she drew her own wand and cast a Bat-Bogey Hex at the boy. Scorpius' jaw dropped at the perfect execution of such a complicated spell. He turned back to her and saw her calmly returning her wand back to it's place. Never had he held such high admiration and respect for the girl. She could certainly hold her own and Kane deserved exactly what he got. Unfortunately, she was caught by a Slytherin Prefect and sent to Headmistress McGonagall's office. As she walked past Kane, who was still on the floor moaning, she shot him a warning look that would have him staying far away from her. Scorpius watched her long, red hair flow after her until she turned the corner and had to shake himself out of his reverie when the Prefect told him to take Andrew to the Hospital Wing. That night, Scorpius paced the room excitedly repeating the story to Albus.

"I've never heard you talk this much about my sister, mate," Albus noted. Scorpius shrugged.

"She's never given me any reason to. But bloody hell, Al. She was spectacular. Just like her mother and grandmother I imagine. Merlin, now I'll be a little nervous around Lily with a wand," he chuckled.

"Hmm," Albus hummed judgmentally to himself and returned his attention to his textbook.

"What?" Scorpius stopped moving and looked at his friend. When Albus didn't answer he moved closer and repeated his question.

"Nothing. You're just talking awfully highly of my sister that's all. My sister who has really never spoken to you, or looked at you for longer than three seconds, and who outwardly does not fancy being near you."

"So?" Scorpius was not sure what Al was getting at.

"Just odd."

"And?"

"It doesn't matter." Albus shrugged it off.

"Albus! C'mon, mate. What are you getting on about?"

"It's just...you seem rather... _captivated_ by her," Albus hinted more directly. Scorpius caught on to what Al was hinting at and vehemently denied such allegations. "Sorry. Forget I mentioned it. It's silly really." Albus offered a goodnight to his friend and turned over in his bed.

That night, Scorpius got stuck on what Albus had said to him and had trouble falling asleep. 'Nonsense,' he thought. 'Utter nonsense. Why on earth he would imply such things is beyond me.' However, when Scorpius finally dozed off, his dreams were filled with a certain red-head.

Christmas that year, Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley got engaged. Lily wept openly when they announced it and hugged Teddy so tightly he was afraid he'd pass out from lack of oxygen. Everyone had been highly amused by the entire situation. They told everyone they were in no rush to plan the wedding as Teddy was swamped with work which was a little disappointing but understandable. Teddy swore to Lily she would be one of the first to know when they picked out a date and Victoire asked her if she would be a bridesmaid when the time came. The answer was an obvious yes.

Gryffindor won the Quidditch cup that year and James was over the moon. He finished his exams and got good enough marks to join his father in the Auror department in the Ministry. Lily was utterly gutted that her brother would not be returning in the fall. To help ease her sadness, James promised to come up to Hogsmede sometimes to spend the day with her.

Over the summer, Lily dated Lorcan Scamander, one of Luna's twins and a Ravenclaw from James' year. She loved the Scamander family but she found she had nothing in common with the boy. She loved spending time with him as he was brilliant and also hilarious. However, she sadly broke up with him about halfway though holidays. She spent the rest of the summer hanging out with Hugo and Alice, counting the days until she would return to Hogwarts.


	4. Chapter 4 – Start of Fifth Year

**Much thanks to unfittingpuzzlepieces and gracefish21 for the mot recent reviews. Enjoy! :)**

Lily had been shocked, yet pleased, when she received her fifth year letter with Quidditch Captain written on it. Grayson would was the same year as her and had been on the team a year loner. She supposed it went to her because of her outgoing personality and leadership skills. Grayson was pretty quiet and perfectly happy doing his own thing. Albus had made Captain for his team that year as well. They both knew it would be an intense battle for the Cup. They were excited to get back to school and start practices as soon as possible.

The end of summer came and the night before the kids in school got on the train, there was a big family dinner at the Burrow. Lily thought it was good to be with members of her family that weren't going to be returning. James and Louis talked to Lily and Albus about Auror training as they were thinking of joining them at the Ministry once they finished school. George gave Lily a handful of products and told her with a wink to use them wisely. Arthur and Molly squeezed their grandchildren until they had no breath left before they let them leave. Eventually, all returned home and those going back to school finished their preparations for the start of term.

It was a frantic rush to get Al's things ready in the morning. Even though it was his 7th year, he was still awful at getting his things together on time. Miraculously, he managed to get all his belongings packed and his owl, Milo, in the family car with ten minutes to spare. The car felt incredibly empty without the eldest Potter child and Lily talked nonstop the entire ride in an attempt to make up for his absence. Once the Potters made it to the station and through the barrier, they met up with the rest of the family that would be returning. This year, it was only Rose, Albus, Hugo, and Lily back at school.

Teddy was working in the Ministry as an Auror with James and Louis. Victoire was a Healer at St. Mungo's on the spell damage floor. Molly worked in the Wizengamot while her sister Lucy was a shop-keeper in Diagon Alley. Roxanne and Dominique were both now playing Quidditch professionally and Fred worked with his father at the joke shop.

"There they are." Hermione pointed out the Potter family to her husband and children. She stood on her tiptoes and waved them over. "You lot are earlier than normal," she teased.

"We don't have James slowing us up this year," Ginny joked in return. Al and Hugo began to load their trunks and their sisters on the train while Rose chatted with the adults. Lily watched the people scurrying around. She smiled at the obvious first years' excited faces. Ron's voice broke her out of her reverie.

"Fifth year already." She turned to look at him and nodded. "You alright?" She forced a smile onto her face and nodded.

"Yeah. It's just weird without James."

"You'll be fine, Lily-bug." Ron wrapped his arms around the girl before ruffling her hair. Lily rolled her eyes at this action. He'd been doing that since she was little. She knew he did it out of love but now that she was older and actually cared about her appearance, it did get on her nerves. She straightened out her messy hair and Ron chuckled. "You look fine, Red. In fact, I think you'd be better off looking less pretty. It'd keep the boys away!" Lily thought her eyes would roll back into her head at this comment.

Suddenly, she felt arms wrap around her shoulders from behind. She jumped and whipped around, prepared to jinx the culprit. She was met with the sight of familiar messy hair and a cocky smirk.

"Jamie!" she shrieked throwing her arms around her brother. James swept her up into a bone-crunching hug. She felt a few tears slip from her eyes and held onto him until they stopped. "What are you doing here?" she demanded letting go of him.

"I wouldn't miss this for the world, Lils." James kissed the top of her head and slung an arm around her shoulder. The train whistle alerted everyone that it was time to board. Lily reluctantly let go of James and hugged her parents goodbye. "I'll see you before you know it, kid," James told her before she climbed on the train. She was sad to leave her brother behind, but was looking forward to seeing her friends again.

Once the train had pulled out from the station, she ambled down the train cars and peeked into the compartments. She recognized the back of Hugo's bright hair and grinned. With him was everyone she was excited to see. Opening the door, she was met with a chorus of "Lily!" She greeted the boys before sliding into a seat between Alice and Avery.

"How was your summer?" she asked Avery. The Watson family had gone on a two month, multi-country trip for the holidays. She barely had time to send her friends letters as her mother couldn't stay in one place very long and was constantly dragging them to a new country.

"Amazing!" Avery gushed. The girls spent the whole ride to Hogwarts discussing the hiking in Machu Picchu, the safari in Africa, and the sightseeing in Rome. Before they knew it, they had arrived at the castle. The students excitedly made their way to the Great Hall. Some were excited for sorting, but most were excited for the food. Hugo grumbled through the sorting ceremony until Lily elbowed him in the side. When the food finally appeared, Hugo ate so fast Lily swore he'd choke.

"Congratulations about making Captain." Grayson Wood sat down across from Lily, his blue eyes sparkling. 'Have his eyes always been this stunning?' Lily thought. It wasn't until Grayson said her name that she realized she must have been staring.

"Right. Yeah. Thanks." Lily wanted to kick herself for being so incredibly awkward. Grayson didn't seem to notice. 'Thank Merlin,' she thought.

"Suppose we'll need to have try-outs soon to replace James, Louis, and Lawrence?"

"Yeah," Lily replied nodding. "And I'd love your help with that. I mean you know just as well as I do what makes a good Chaser. Probably better since you're a Keeper and I'm a Seeker. I'm not even around most of the game. Just up in the air. Flying. Watching." Lily begged her mouth to stop moving as the words she chose only got more awkward. 'Get ahold of yourself,' she yelled in her head. Grayson smiled brightly.

"That'd be great! Just let me know, alright?" Lily nodded and watched him get up and go back down the table.

"What the hell was that?" Hugo asked. Lily let her head fall to the table in shame.

"I don't know," she groaned. "I sounded like such a twat!"

"It was fine. You sounded fine," Rose soothed.

"No she sounded like a twat," Hugo butted in.

"Sod off, Hugo!" Lily's head shot up as she scolded her cousin. "I panicked. I don't know what happened. What's wrong with me?" Rose shrugged, clearly amused by the situation. "He probably thinks I'm an idiot." The only reason Hugo let this comment slide, was because of the glare he received from Elliot. "I need to pull myself together," Lily said, mostly to herself, and straightened up in her seat. The rest of the meal was relatively uneventful and everyone decided to turn in early as classes would begin in the morning.

The next morning, the class schedules got passed out during breakfast. All of the fifth years would be in Potions, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Transfiguration, Herbology, History of Magic, and Astronomy. Lily, Hugo, and Avery were also taking Arithmancy and Ancient Ruins. Elliot and Alice would be in Care of Magical Creatures and Muggle Studies together while Grayson chose to do Divination and Care of Magical Creatures. Rose sat with Lily that morning and looked over her schedule.

"You've got good classes here," she told her youngest cousin in between bites of toast. "I'm a bit partial to Muggle Studies but Arithmancy will probably be more up your alley." She passed Lily's schedule back to her. "It's so odd knowing this is my last year," Rose said sadly.

"Oh, don't remind me!" Lily pouted and set down her fork. "I can't bear to think about you leaving me too."

"You barely see me as it is. You're so busy with your things and me with mine"

"I know." Lily shrugged. "But I still like knowing that you're here with me at school."

"I get it. You know, me and Al and Scorpius were talking about this the other day and-" Rose stopped talking when she saw Lily's eyes had darkened and her expression soured. "Don't tell me your still miffed about the whole Slytherin and Scorpius thing," Rose said exasperatedly.

"Let me be miffed. I'm allowed to be miffed."

"Lily, you're being ridiculous."

"I don't have to listen to this." Lily grabbed her books and stood up. "I'll see you at dinner." She stepped over the bench and started for the door, ignoring her cousin calling after her. She made it out the door and a few steps towards the stairs when she heard her name called by a new voice; Albus' voice.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" he asked. She turned around and smiled at him.

"What? I can't be excited about getting to class?" she teased. Al snorted.

"Lils, you have never been excited about sitting in a classroom for hours listening to someone else talk." Lily tried to look affronted by her brother's statement, but failed.

"Can you blame me?" she asked through a chuckle. It was then that she noticed a familiar blond hovering over her brother's shoulder. The smile fell from her face and she looked at the floor, shuffling awkwardly. "Anyway, I do have class and I should go." She turned back to the stairs and made it halfway up before Al registered her retreat.

"Li-" Al started but stopped. There was no sense in trying to stop a fleeing Lily. She would only get peeved at him. He was confused at what set her off until he moved to walk towards the Great Hall and Scorpius entered his line of sight. "Oh." Scorpius raised an eyebrow at his friend. "I should've known she was still being a brat about you," Al muttered, ashamed by his sibling's behavior. He looked back over at the stairs and watched Lily glide up them without looking back. He shook his head before walking into the Great Hall for a quick breakfast. Scorpius lingered just a few seconds longer watching until that red hair disappeared.

Lily was out of breath when she reached the Transfiguration classroom. She had basically sprinted up the stairs the entire way to avoid Al calling her back down. When she entered the classroom, she noticed Avery was already sitting at a desk towards the middle of the room reading a textbook.

"And I thought I was early." Avery turned when Lily spoke. "How long have you been here?" Lily asked.

"Just a few minutes. I wasn't all that hungry so I figured I'd just head to class. Why are you here so early?

"I'm avoiding people," Lily said sitting in the seat on Avery's right.

"Any specific people?"

"Rose, Al, Malfoy..."

"Come off it, Lily. What's Malfoy ever done to you?" Avery shut her book and gave Lily her full attention.

"Does he have to do anything? Can't I just not like him?"

"No. You _could_ give him a chance. He's not awful or anything." Avery paused. "And he's not bad looking either," she admitted.

"Blood hell, Avery!"

"Well he is! Don't tell me you've never noticed."

"I haven't thank you very much," Lily said indignantly.

"Then you're missing out," Avery said chuckling. Lily scoffed at the mere idea and tried to shake Scorpius from her thoughts. Pretty soon the rest of the class joined them, followed by their professor.

The rest of the day was uneventful, but the fifth years were already starting to understand how tough this year would be. Alice and Avery joined the Gryffindors for dinner that evening.

"And to top it off, she assigned an essay on the first day!" Alice lamented over her Muggle Studies professor.

"Well we are fifth years now," Avery said with a shrug.

"Don't even start. You like homework. Let us be miserable," Hugo complained. Avery rolled her eyes and went back to her mashed potatoes.

"How are your classes so far?" Elliot asked Lily.

"Fine. I mean it's only the first day." Lily missed the tone of intense interest in Elliot's voice. Hugo didn't and glared at his friend. Elliot blushed and focused on his goblet of pumpkin juice. The exchange went unnoticed by the girls.

"I've got to schedule Quidditch tryouts," Lily told those at the table with her. "When is Ravenclaw doing theirs?" Lily asked Avery.

"I'm not going to reveal our secrets!" Avery smirked. "In all honesty, I have no idea."

"You're trying out this year, right?" Lily focused her attention on Hugo. He nodded since his mouth was full of food. "Good. I'd like to have another family member on the team now that Louis and James are gone." It was at that moment that Grayson walked into Lily's line of sight on his way out of the Great Hall. She ignored the others and watched him leave.

"Lily?" Alice waved her hand in front of Lily's face.

"Sorry. What?"

"We lost you for a second there. What was that about?" Alice asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

"Nothing. I'm fine," she mumbled. She was incredibly embarrassed she'd been caught staring at Grayson and hoped no one called her on it. No such luck.

"Lily's besotted," Hugo announced.

"Shut up, Hugo!" Lily warned.

"Besotted?" Avery asked looking to Alice for explanation who shrugged. Hugo wasn't going to let it go.

"Besotted with Grayson Wood." Lily dropped her face into her hands as she turned bright red. Avery laughed at her friend's predicament.

"He's pretty attractive. I don't blame her." Alice tried to offer her support.

"The trouble is I'm such an idiot around him. I've never acted like this before."

"That's because guys always chase you," Avery pointed out. "You never want them first."

"She's not wrong," Alice confirmed. Elliot sat in an uncomfortable silence for the duration of the conversation. "And most of the time, you just ignore them because you're not interested."

"I'm just going to have to ignore this," Lily reasoned. "I'll ignore it and it will go away."

"Not likely," Hugo told her. "You have to spend a lot of time with him in classes and in Quidditch practice."

"I'm doomed," Lily groaned dramatically, dropping her head onto the table. The rest of the group laughed and they finished their meals in high spirits. Everyone decided to go back to their Common Rooms right after dinner and start on homework that had already been assigned or catch up with people they hadn't see yet.

The next morning at breakfast, Lily was reading the Daily Prophet and an owl dropped down in front of her. He dropped a creme envelope into her lap and nudged her hand for treats.

"Oh, sorry. Hold on." She reached into her bag where she knew she had a few owl treats. She gave him and handful and he hooted appreciatively before flying off. Lily opened the envelope and slid out a letter. She recognized Victoire's handwriting when she opened it. She quickly read through the letter hoping it contained the piece of news she'd been waiting ages for. "Yes!" she squealed when she reached a certain point in the letter. Hugo looked up from his eggs. "They have a wedding date!" Lily hopped up from her seat and grabbed her stuff.

"Wait. What? Who? Where are you going?"

"Teddy and Victoire. They have a wedding date. I'm gonna be a bridesmaid! I have to write her back," Lily hurriedly answered all Hugo's questions. She made her way up to the Owlry. Once there, she scratched out a quick response trying not to bounce with joy too much. She sent her letter off with a grumpy, brown owl and headed back down so she could make it to class on time. She was walking down the corridor to class when she heard Headmistress McGonagall's voice.

"I understand if you need to take time off," she was telling someone. Lily stopped moving. She wasn't sneaking, but she was sort of eavesdropping. It couldn't be helped; the Potter family was an extremely curious family.

"No, ma'am. I can handle it," a male voice answered. Lily did not recognize the voice and tried to move so she could see who it was.

"Very well, Mr. Malfoy." She didn't need to see the face now that McGonagall had said his name. "Let me know if there's anything I can do."

"Thank you, Headmistress." Lily heard McGonagall's swift steps walk off. She stayed where she was in case Scorpius hadn't left yet. She knew it was the right choice when she heard someone let out a shaky exhale. After another moment, he walked down the corridor slowly. Lily stayed in her hiding spot for a few minutes longer lost in thought. She wondered what on earth they could've been talking about and why they sounded so serious. She couldn't stay and ponder too long as she had to hurry off to Potions class. She knew she couldn't outright ask Malfoy or her brother what was going on. Perhaps if she lingered in doorways and eavesdropped a bit more, she would find out what they had been talking about.


	5. Chapter 5 – Rolling Along

**Sorry this took so long! I'm in the midst of loads of exams and papers, but I'm trying my best. As always, thanks for the lovely reviews and enjoy! :)**

Despite the heavy workload, Lily found that fifth year wasn't all that awful. Avery, who thrived on work and stress, had no problem with this new schedule, but everyone else was none too thrilled. Hugo swore he was going to drop out of school at least every twenty minutes and Alice nearing pulled her hair out trying to keep up with all of the essays they had already.

About three weeks into the term, on a cool Sunday morning, Lily hosted Quidditch tryouts. The team already had her as their Seeker, Grayson in the Keeper position, and Elliot Jordan and Jackson Holmes as Beaters. So she was looking for a full bracket of Chasers. She wanted three people who worked well together and kept their spirits high throughout the many practices. Lily arrived at the field about 20 minutes before tryouts were scheduled to start and saw that the pitch was already full of potential Chasers. This made her smile and she picked her way through the crowd exchanging small "hellos" or smiles with some of them. She made it to Grayson who was sitting at the far end of the pitch polishing his broom.

"Hey!" she said brightly. 'Don't sound so desperate,' she scolded herself. Grayson looked up and Lily felt herself melting as she looked in his vibrant eyes. He smiled widely and tilted his head to the right. 'Merlin, he's so adorable,' Lily thought adoringly.

"Morning, Lily!" His name seemed to flow from his mouth with such ease and grace. "Ready for today?"

"I hope so," she admitted.

"You'll be great," Grayson encouraged. He stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. Lily looked up at the boy who stood about 6 inches taller than her and fought to slow her breathing. She gave him a forced smile which he took before walking off to the sidelines. Lily turned to face the congregated students and caught Hugo smirking at her. She felt her face heat up and composed herself before addressing the group.

"Alright, you lot. As you may know, today I'll be looking for three Chasers to fill out the team. I want fast flyers, a good energy, compatibility with other Chasers, but I also want people who don't make everyone else miserable." The students chuckled at that statement which gave Lily the little confidence boost she needed. "Separate yourselves into groups of three and I'll change things up once I see how you play."

It was pretty easy to weed out the downright, awful players. One of them being Gregor McLaggen who had previously tried out to be a Beater and rejected because not only was he awful, but he was obnoxious. He had asked Lily out at least twice every year and she'd turned him down every time. Once she sent him off the field, he had the guts to wink at her. Lily could only roll her eyes. After another three hours of grueling decisions, she called Grayson down to join her.

"What are you thinking?" he asked seeing the look on her face.

"You're gonna think I've lost it."

"Never," he replied smiling.

"Even though he's my cousin, Hugo is clearly the best flyer up there. He also works fantastically with everyone."

"I agree," Grayson consented.

"And Josie Fisher. She's brilliant." Lily now spoke of a third year who had obviously played a lot of Quidditch in her free time. Her skills rivaled Hugo's.

"Perfect. I think she's great," Grayson agreed. "What about the last one?"

"Annie Allen."

"Annie Allen? That little first year?" Lily nodded. "Hmm."

"What?" Lily was fearful Grayson disapproved, but she was willing to fight for the small girl that had impressed her more than anyone else on the pitch.

"I like it. Those three will have a good dynamic," he finally answered.

"Great!" Lily beamed. "I'll let them all know." Lily announced her picks to the rest of the hopefuls. She saw some glum faces and she felt slightly bad, but knew she had made the best decision. Hugo had cheered loudly and scooped Lily up in a hug before she finished thanking all the rejects for their time.

"Hugo!" Lily shrieked through a loud laugh. "Put me down. You stink." Hugo obliged her wishes and went off to congratulate his new teammates. Lily looked at the delighted look on Josie's face and turned to find Annie. The first year's jaw had dropped and her eyes were as big as saucers. This amused Lily and she walked over to the newest member of the team.

"Are you sure you want me?" Annie timidly asked the red-head.

"Yes! Of course I am! You were amazing up there," Lily reassured her.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Annie threw her arms around Lily's waist with so much force, Lily was fearful she'd topple over. She returned the hug before sending her off to the showers.

"Well that went well," Lily addressed the remaining people on the field: Elliot, Jackson, and Grayson. All three boys nodded before Grayson left to change.

"That first year is so tiny!" Jackson remarked. "Were we ever that small?" Lily laughed at the question. She had always really liked Jackson. He was a year older than her which meant they didn't have any classes together and never spent all that much time hanging out besides practices.

"She really is. I really like her though." Lily and Jackson started up to the castle for lunch while discussing his sister. Back at home in the Muggle world, Jackson had a two year old sister named Ashlyn. She had already shown magic potential and was exhausting their parents by levitating things out of their reach and exploding all of the eggs in the house. About halfway up to the castle and halfway through another anecdote, the two came upon the Slytherin Quidditch team headed down to the pitch.

"Merlin," Lily muttered to herself. Jackson didn't have time to ask what was wrong before they were face-to-face with the Slytherins.

"Hey, Lily!" Or course Albus, standing next to Scorpius, had to greet his sister with a wide smile. "Just come from tryouts?" She nodded as her eyes flitted from her brother to his friend. Scorpius looked terrible. There were dark bags under his eyes, his Quidditch uniform was incredibly wrinkled, and his posture seemed to sag underneath the weight of the world. Even though he looked like death warmed over, his white-blonde hair was as immaculate as ever. Lily tore her eyes from the boy before anyone caught her staring. Something was obviously wrong with him. "Got a good team this year?" Albus continued his prodding.

"You trying to get team secrets from me?" Lily smirked at her brother and raised a delicate eyebrow.

"No need. I can take you down without cheating," he told her proudly.

"Oh really?"

"Really," Albus challenged.

"We'll see about that won't we." Lily threw over her shoulder as she walked away with Jackson on her heels. Albus laughed at his sister and continued down to the pitch. All of the team but Scorpius followed. He turned and watched Lily's journey up to the castle. She had reentered a conversation with Jackson and threw her head back, laughing at whatever he told her. Scorpius never got to see such a natural, open side of Albus' sister, seeing as how she wouldn't even acknowledge him. Lily and her brother were so similar, but neither seemed to realize. Maybe that's why they didn't see eye to eye; they were both way too stubborn.

"Scor?" Albus called after his friend. "You coming?"

"Yeah. I'm coming."

After lunch, Jackson and Lily parted ways as he headed back to the Common Room while she went to the library to finish up some homework before the week started. Once everything was done, Lily ate an early dinner in the kitchens and went up to bed. The next few weeks were filled with classes, homework, and practice. Gryffindor wasn't set to play until the second match so Lily took time in the first game to asses the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams. While Avery was an excellent player, her team wasn't all that great. Each individual player was talented, but they were not cohesive. Albus had been right, however; Slytherin had a fantastic team. Lily was a little concerned that they would take the Cup back from Gryffindor this year.

Before the students knew it, the first Hogsmede trip had arrived. Lily and her friends were excited to have a break from all the stress. The day was perfect for a trip outside. There was a light, cool breeze and the leaves were bright colors signaling the middle of fall. It was great to enjoy this weather before the snow began to fall relentlessly. Lily had woken up excited for the excursion and pulled on jeans, a navy blue jumper, and black boots. She looked in the mirror on her way out the door and stopped, examining herself. She pulled her long hair up into a ponytail and grabbed a black scarf from the chair in her room. Now her look was complete.

She met up with Alice, Avery, and the boys at breakfast, all of them dressed in warmer clothes to enjoy the day. They headed down with the rest of the students, chatting merrily. They stopped by Honeydukes first but Lily refused to go into Zonko's as they passed, saying her Uncle's products were much better. The group laughed at her snobbishness and continued on. Lily found it was much easier to hang out with Grayson when they were in a larger group. Needless to say, she was still a nervous wreck and felt like she was talking way too much. After a few hours, the group decided to have Butterbeers in the Three Broomsticks before heading back to the castle. It was crowded, but the six found a cozy booth in the corner.

"There's a nip in the air today," Elliot commented, rubbing his arms to warm himself up.

"Just you wait. It'll get worse," Hugo warned.

"Don't remind me." The group laughed at Elliot's somber response.

"This is perfect weather for Quidditch," Lily said.

"Yeah," Grayson agreed, nodding. "I can't bear to think about all the matches we'll have to play in the snow." After their round of drinks, they left, feeling slightly claustrophobic from the masses.

"Sometime in the future, we should sneak into the Shrieking Shack." Lily looked thoughtfully off to where she knew the decrepit building stood.

"Bloody hell, Lily. No!" Hugo protested. "Why?"

"You're not curious? I mean, dad's told me loads of stories about it. I've always wanted to see it first hand," she admitted.

"I'm down," Elliot offered.

"Of course you are," Hugo goaded. Elliot punched him in the arm.

"My parents had a date there once," Avery told them.

"What?" Alice asked.

"Yeah. When they were in Hogwarts together. They hated doing the normal dates things everyone else did and wanted to do something out of the ordinary and memorable. So mum dragged dad to the Shack and made him break inside with her. They won't tell me anything else about it on the inside. They said if I want to know, I have to sneak in myself."

"That's brilliant. I love your mum," Lily told her friend who laughed.

"She is pretty...different. But she's great. You'd love her."

"I've always wanted to meet her. But we're either never at the same Ministry functions or just don't get around to each other." Lily knew it was hard for Avery's mom at events. She was a wizard socialite but also had to deal with her twins who were six years younger than Avery and headed to Hogwarts next year. So in between wrangling mischievous children and hobnobbing with officials, she didn't have time to socialize with many others. Lily did know her parents were big fans of Watsons though.

Just a week later, Gryffindor faced Hufflepuff in Quidditch. The winds had picked up and the air had chilled even more, but it still wasn't too extreme. As expected, Gryffindor dominated the match. Lily was absolutely thrilled with how well her team had played especially the newest members.

One gloomy, November morning, Lily woke up feeling awful. Her head was pounding, her body ached, her throat felt raw, and her skin felt like it was on fire. She managed to drag herself out of bed and pull on clothes that weren't pajamas. She groaned every time she moved. Her cat, Olivia seemed to sense her distress and nudged he owner's leg. Lily scooped up the tiny calico and shoved her wand in the pocket of her robe before heading to the Hospital Wing. On her way down, Lily only felt worse and worse. Now that she had gotten up, she was sneezing and coughing constantly and felt like she was going to be sick. It took her twice as long as it should have to drag herself downstairs. She weakly pushed open the doors to the Hospital Wing and groaned again at the exertion. There were only two other people there. The first was Madame Gables, the middle-aged Healer who had taken over for Madame Pomfrey. The second, much to Lily's chagrin, was Scorpius Malfoy. She would have sworn but she knew that would've hurt too much.

"Miss Potter?" Madame Gables looked towards the door when it had weakly hit the wall behind it. She had been watching Scorpius who was sitting on a cot drinking a vial of some purple potion. When she saw the state Lily was in, she hurried over to the girl. One touch let her know how warm Lily was. "Oh my!"

"I don't feel all that great," she told the Healer. Despite her ragged appearance, Madame Gables chuckled.

"Yes, I can see that, darling. Please sit." She led the girl to the closest cot and guided her into a sitting position. Lily released her hold on Olivia who curled up in her lap. She examined Lily before making her decision. "Definitely the flu," she concluded. "Hold on one moment, love." Madame Gables scurried off into the back. Lily couldn't love so she just sat there in misery. Scorpius placed his empty vial on a bedside table and stood, walking over to the girl. She didn't seem to notice his approach in her sick haze. Even though she was seated, Lily began to waver in her spot.

"Woah there." Scorpius took a couple of long strides and steadied the girl. He almost immediately removed his hands from her skin as it felt like actual fire and it startled him. He knew she would fall if he removed support though. He knelt down in front of her and Lily wearily opened her eyes to make eye contact with Malfoy. She let out a soft moan and Scorpius felt her crumple in his grip. He gently let her lay down on her side, disturbing the small cat in the process. Scorpius draped a blanket over a now slumbering Lily and patted down a spot for the cat to curl up in. She purred appreciatively and curled into a ball right next to Lily's face. Madame Gables came back into the room right at that moment.

"Oh, Mr. Malfoy." She only seemed to notice he was still there now. "If you've finished the calming draught, you can head back to whatever it is you need to do." He nodded and stood up, letting the Healer get closer to the sick girl. He was almost gone when Madame Gables stopped him. "Would you mind letting her brother know she's here?" she asked. Once back in the dungeons, Scorpius made his way up to his dormitory where Albus was searching through his scattered belongings for something.

"Feeling better, mate?" Al asked when his friend entered the room.

"Yeah. Hey. Your sister is downstairs. In the Hospital Wing."

"What?" Albus dropped everything he was holding and whipped around to face Scorpius.

"Madame Gables seems to think she's come down with the flu," Scorpius explained.

"Poor, Lils. Bloody hell. I gotta go check on her." Albus headed to the door, but halted right before he reached it. "Wait no. I need to write my parents just so they're aware." He started back to his desk before stopping again. "But Lily shouldn't be alone." He seemed dizzy by his racing thoughts

"She does have a little cat with her," Scorpius told him.

"That's Olivia. She'd had her for five years now. She loves that cat more than anything in the world," Albus said fondly. "I'll go check on her first then if she's too bad, I'll write mum and dad."

"Seems like a good plan," Scorpius responded even though he knew Albus wasn't listening to anything but himself anymore. Al left moments later, leaving Scorpius to fall back into bed in the first restful sleep he'd had in a while.

A week later, Lily had fully recovered from her nasty flu. She had missed all of her classes in order to prevent the spread of the illness and now was panicked trying to catch up on everything she'd missed plus holding practices for her team. It also was taking a while to regain her strength after not eating almost anything for so long. Miraculously, she managed to catch up and keep her head above water.

About a month before Christmas, snow fell for the first time that season. It also happened to be the day Slytherin and Gryffindor came head to head in Quidditch. Despite the freezing cold and the exhaustion of all their players, Gryffindor came out on top – barely. Lily knew they would have to work even harder the next time they went up against each other. The team's record now was 4-0 which thrilled Lily and James, whom Lily wrote to every week.

A week later, Lily was looking for a book in the library when a small, strawberry-blonde caught her eye. She smiled at the sight of the smallest Gryffindor player and walked over to her table. She was sitting alone amongst a mountain of books.

"Hey, kiddo." Annie looked up at Lily and smiled brightly.

"Hi, Lily!" she greeted her Quidditch Captain. Lily sat down across from the girl.

"How are you?"

"I'm alright."

"Just alright?" Lily questioned. She locked with Annie's deep, brown eyes. She was concerned for her favorite first year.

"I just miss my parents," she admitted very embarrassed. Lily smiled when Annie looked down at the table in shame.

"There's nothing wrong with that, peanut." Lily knew she had chosen a good nickname for the girl when her posture lifted a little. "I miss my parents too sometimes. And my brothers. I miss them a whole lot."

"How many brothers do you have?" Annie asked.

"Well I technically have two. But my dad's godson is basically a brother to me." Lily could tell talking to her would ease her homesickness so she continued. "His name is Teddy and his an Auror and a metamorphmagus which means he can change his appearance at will." Annie's eyes widened at the thought of this and Lily made the mental not to introduce them in the future. Annie would get a kick out of Teddy. "Then there's James. He was a Gryffindor like us but he graduated last year. You took his place on the team."

"Oh...I hope I'm as good as him."

"Merlin, you're fantastic. Maybe even better," Lily admitted quietly and Annie beamed at the very thought.

"Then comes Albus. He still goes to school here. He's Slytherin's Seeker."

"He's really good!" Annie paled when she realized what she said. Lily laughed.

"He is, I admit it. Not quite as good as me, but Al is amazing. What about you? Do you have an siblings?" she asked.

"Nope." Annie shook her head. "Just me and my parents. Mum went to Beauxbatons and dad was in Ravenclaw here." Lily enjoyed chatting with Annie for another two hours. They realized they needed to head back up to the Common Room, but once there, got stuck in a conversation with Rose for an additional three hours. It wasn't until 2:43 in the morning that Lily finally fell into bed.


	6. Chapter 6 – Christmas

**Reviews made me so happy so thank you to unfittingpuzzlepieces for your constant reviewing. Enjoy! :)**

The last few weeks of the term flew by and Lily found herself packing for the Christmas holidays. She was excited to return home and spend some time with James. She really had missed his presence at Hogwarts this year. Playing pranks just wasn't the same without him. Lily also knew she would spend a lot of time helping the women of the family not only prep for the many family feasts they would have, but also planning for Victoire's May wedding.

Once on the train, Lily and the Gryffindor boys searched for the compartment that held their other friends. They found and joined the other girls who were talking about all the shopping they still had to do for Christmas gifts. During the ride, Avery taught her friends a couple of Muggle card games. Even though her family came from long lines of witches and wizards on both sides, her parents loved learning about the Muggle world. They traveled at every chance they had and picked up different Muggle trinkets and games everywhere they went. The more stories Avery told, the more Lily wanted to meet her parents.

Upon arriving at King's Cross Station, Lily and Hugo told their friends goodbye and searched for their family. They spotted Ron's head above the crowd and pushed their way through. He was standing with Ginny, chatting merrily.

"Hi, mum! Hey, Uncle Ron," Lily greeted.

"There they are! Well, half of them at least. Where are Rose and Al?" Ron asked. The two fifth years looked at each other and shrugged.

"That's helpful. They had better hurry because I've got to get you back home so I can do some shopping," Ginny said.

"There's Rose," Hugo pointed out his sister talking to a Ravenclaw in her year. She hugged the girl and picked her way to her family members.

"Where's Al?" she asked the group.

"That's a great question," Hugo said lightly, examining the platform again. "Should I holler for him?"

"Please don't" Ginny begged her nephew.

"He's over there with Scor," Rose showed her family where the lanky teen was standing. Ron, Lily, and Hugo's mouths all set into firm lines. Hugo stepped behind Lily and put a hand on her shoulder. He gently guided her harsh gaze away from the two. She turned back and looked at her mother who had an unreadable look on her face. Albus finished his conversation with his friend and his emerald eyes scanned for his family. He spotted them and walked over with a smile.

"Mum," he greeted warmly, enveloping her in a tight hug. Lily turned on her heel and marched away followed quickly by Hugo. The others made their way after the two.

At home, Albus promptly fell into bed and slept the rest of the afternoon. Since Harry and James were at work, Lily joined her mother to do some gift shopping. She had already bought gifts for a few people in Hogsmede, but left most of her shopping for Diagon Alley.

The ladies returned home and wrapped the gifts they had bought and placed them under the tree that sat in the parlour.

"Mum, why isn't the tree decorated yet?" Lily asked eyeing the bare tree.

"Haven't had time yet. With your father and James at the Ministry so much and me at work as well, just haven't gotten to it."

Ginny went into the kitchen to start dinner while Lily made her way upstairs to send off the gifts she had gotten for her friends. She had just finished the last letter when she heard a familiar voice call up the stairs.

"Honey, I'm home!" Lily dropped her quill on her desk and raced from the room. At the bottom of the stairs stood a messy-haired lad with a cocky smile.

"Jamie!" Lily shrieked tearing down the stairs as fast as she could without falling. Once she was a few steps from the bottom, she launched herself at her brother. Her arms wound around his neck while he wrapped one around her waist and used to other to grab the wall and prevent them both from toppling over. "Oh I missed you!"

"I missed you too, Lils." James squeezed his sister before setting her down. "Mums got dinner ready so go ahead to the kitchen. I'm gonna go wake Al up," James told her as he headed up the stairs. Lily made her way to the kitchen where her mother was finishing up the sauce. The man next to her was not Harry, but still excited Lily.

"Teddy! I didn't know you'd be here!" Her adopted brother scooped her up into one of his trademark hugs that she loved so much and kissed the top of her head.

"I usually come around for dinner. I can't resist free food." Lily rolled her eyes. "And of course I had to see my little Flower," he told her. She took in Teddy's appearance and saw his hair was a vibrant shade of red, sort of like the Weasley's.

"Your hair is very festive," she told him. He laughed and nodded.

"Yeah I tried green but that just looked bloody awful so I decided on red. And now I fit in with the family," he informed her proudly.

Harry joined them in the kitchen then and Lily spent a few minutes hugging her father and listening to how much he had missed her. She loved Hogwarts but there was something about returning home to her family that always was better. Pretty soon, the boys joined them and they all say down to dinner.

Albus and Lily caught everyone up on what was going on at school. The both lamented over their NEWT and OWL workloads that they were sure would kill them. A lighthearted argument broke out over who would win the Quidditch cup that year and Lily's surprising lack of detentions was discussed. After dinner, Lily thought it would be a good idea to decorate the tree as a family. While the boys originally dragged their feet about it, they eventually agreed and made their way into the parlour. Harry put on his Muggle radio to play Christmas songs. The family spent the next few hours enjoying each other's company and getting into a festive spirit.

Lily spent the next few days hanging out with Hugo, flying around the yard with Albus, and in Diagon Alley with Alice. Being able to not focus on classes or be stressed homework or exhausted from Quidditch was extremely freeing. One afternoon a few days before Christmas, Lily and Alice got ice cream from Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour and took a walk down the streets.

"I just look like an idiot when I'm alone with him. And of course we have Quidditch together and he's a good friend of mine so he's always around. Hugo's being a git about it too. Always making faces at me and muttering things under his breath."

"Well you're not very subtle." Alice was clearly amused by Lily's Grayson dilemma. "The only reason he hasn't noticed it because his head is always up in the air. He _is_ pretty oblivious."

"Which I suppose is a good thing. I wouldn't want him to notice how much of a nutter I'm being. Elliot is really the only one who isn't making fun of me for it." Alice snorted. "What?" When Alice didn't respond, Lily repeated her question.

"Now who's being oblivious?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come off it, Lily. You can't tell me you haven't noticed he still has a thing for you. He's always hinting at it," Alice insisted.

"He can't. When I broke things off I made things clear and he was totally okay with everything. Why would he even still like me? It doesn't make sense," Lily rambled.

"Well he does," Alice's tone became stiff as she focused on her ice cream.

"What?" Lily was confused by the tone. "Alice, you alright?

"Yeah."

"Obviously there's something that...oh. Merlin." Lily thought she finally understood what had suddenly upset her friend. "Alice? You don't...I mean...well," she paused. "Do you have a thing for Elliot?" Lily didn't need an answer once Alice turned bright red.

"I-I-I," Alice stuttered.

"Oh, Alice. I had no idea! How long?"

"Third year."

"I wish you would've told me. I never ever would have gone out with him."

"No, Lily! Honestly it's alright. It's not that serious. I really didn't mind," Alice soothed her friend.

"Are you being honest?" Lily was now concerned she had hurt her friend a lot.

"Yes." Alice smiled at the red head. "Honest, Lily. It's just a little crush."

"Well you've seen how bad my little crush is," Lily told her. Alice laughed in response and the two continued their afternoon outing visiting Lily's Uncle George and cousin Fred at their shop.

Christmas Eve morning, Lily got up early to help her mother finish a couple of last preparations. Before serving lunch, Ginny made her daughter go upstairs to retrieve the boys. She started in James' room since he was notorious harder to rouse. She flung open the door and made her way to the window to pull apart the curtains. The bright light flooded the room and on James' face. He groaned and pulled the blanket over his eyes.

"Lunchtime!" Lily announced loudly shaking her brother. He groaned again and she laughed. "It's already half past noon you lazy bum. If you aren't up by the time I get Al, you'll be sorry." Lily left his room and went down the hall to Albus' room. She didn't bother knocking since she assumed he was asleep. When she opened the door though, she found him sitting at his desk reading a letter. He looked distressed by whatever he was reading. He looked up when Lily stepped into the room and forced a smile.

"You alright, Al?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What do you need?"

"Just came to tell you lunch is ready and mum wants you to come downstairs. You sure you're alright?"

"I'm sure. I'll be down in a few minutes," he assured her. She nodded and left the room, shutting the door after her. She passed James' room and saw him actually slowly pulling himself from his bed. She chuckled and headed down the stairs. Lily stopped by her father's study and popped her head in.

"Dad. Lunch," she said. He looked up from a stack of papers.

"Alright," he said rising from the chair and setting his quill down. They made their way to the kitchen and sat at the table with Ginny. James joined them moments later and Albus made his way down a few minutes afterwards. The family enjoyed a leisurely lunch before preparing overnight bags for the Burrow. Once they were ready, they flooed over one by one.

They were immediately met by many family members, young and old coming in and out of the kitchen in preparation for the big dinner they would have in a few hours. James and Albus took their families' bags upstairs to their respective rooms while Lily and Ginny joined Molly in the kitchen.

"Hi, mum." Ginny kissed her mother on the cheek and moved to her other side to cut vegetables with Hermione.

"Hey, grandma." Lily greeted Molly next. Molly stopped what she was doing when her youngest grandchild greeted her.

"Oh, Lily! Look at you. It's been so long. How is Hogwarts? Are you getting enough food and sleep?" Molly bombarded Lily with questions and kisses. Lily laughed at her grandmother's enthusiasm and hugged her back. She spent a few minutes in the kitchen catching up with her grandmother and a couple of aunts before going to find other members of the family. She greeted several cousins in the hallways that she hadn't seen since the summer.

About 7, the entire family sat down together for a meal. There were 25 people altogether including Molly's husband and Lucy's finance. The meal was a great way for everyone to catch up since several of them were still at Hogwarts and the rest at serious jobs to talk about. George entertained the table by telling stories of some of the newer products they were producing and the disastrous side effects they were causing. They talked later than they all realized before heading up to bed.

The next morning, Lily woke up with the sun as she always did on Christmas. She stretched in her bed before getting up and looking at the other occupants of the room, Rose and Dominique, who were still fast asleep.

"Rise and shine, girls!" she shouted to them, ripping the curtains open. The other two groaned at the sunlight. Lily didn't wait to see if they got up before going to wake up the rest of the Burrow. She burst into the room that held her brothers and bounced from bed to bed shouting at them to get up. Once she was satisfied they would rise, she moved onto the room that held Louis, Hugo, and Fred. She roused them all quickly and when she exited their room, she found the occupants of the previous rooms had all gotten up. Even though they were still rubbing the sleep from their eyes, there was happiness on their faces. They all worked together to wake up the rest of the cousins and all the parents. Ron complained loudly that the children were no longer five anymore and should at least sleep until ten. Regardless, he joined them all downstairs where the flurry of present opening began.

Lily was pleased with the haul she received that year. She got a broom cleaning kit from Bill, Fleur, and Louis. Roxanne and Dominique gave her omnioculars to watch them closer in their Quidditch matches. Her grandmother knitted her a red and gold jumper and made her some homemade cakes and sweets. George, Angelina, and Fred supplied Lily with plenty of products from the store plus some of her favorite candies from Honeydukes. Percy and Audrey got her a new peat coat. She received a couple of scarves from Lucy and Molly that they had picked up on their sister trip. Her Uncle Charlie got her a few of his favorite plants to brighten up her dormitory at school. Ron and Hermione gave their niece new winter boots she desperately needed. Rose gave Lily some of her favorite Muggle books: Pride and Prejudice, Little Women, and Wuthering Heights. Victoire's present was a couple a enchanted headbands with butterflies and flowers on them that moved if you looked closely. Lily got Snitch earrings that fluttered on her ears from Hugo. James had recently been to Paris for fun and picked up a couple of perfumes he thought would please Lily for Christmas. Albus got his sister a fuzzy blanket because she complained about being cold too much and a bracelet with a little kitten, Snitch, lion, and flower charms on it. Teddy's gift had gotten him a big hug; it was a golden locket with a picture of the four siblings in it laughing at something that had happened. Lily had put it on immediately. Lily's parents had given her the newest model broom as they did every Christmas plus a few accessories for her and a couple of toys for Olivia. Lily got nice, new Quidditch gloves from Elliot and Grayson. Alice had gotten her friend a couple of nice, magical necklaces. Avery had gotten Lily a few Muggle items including some dresses that were the newest fashions in the Muggle world and a few little stuffed animals in the forms of a fox and a red panda.

After opening all of the gifts, they all ate a nice, big breakfast. The cousins and a few of the uncles spent the afternoon out in the yard building snowmen and snow-forts and engaging in their annual snowball war. Once all of them were soaked and exhausted, they went back inside and collapsed by the fire, drinking various hot beverages to help warm them up. The entire family got back together again for a dinner before all going to their separate homes.

After sleeping in till almost noon, Lily rose and groggily went down the stairs. Her mother laughed when she came into the at the state of her daughter's tangly hair.

"Don't you look nice," Ginny said sarcastically. Lily snorted and sat at the table. Her mother plopped a sandwich in front of her and went behind her daughter to brush out the tangles. This was something they had done every since Lily was a kid. They were joined by Harry about 20 minutes later who held a letter in his hand.

"I forgot to mention it earlier, but the Ministry wants us to attend the New Year's Eve Ball their hosting this year." Ginny huffed and let go of her daughter's hair.

"Well that would have been nice to know earlier seeing as how we'll need to have nicer clothes and such," she complained to her husband. "I do not have a dress for this occasion and you know the press will be there taking loads of pictures of the family so we all have to look nice." Harry watched his wife rant and Lily got up and left to avoid her mother berating her father about his forgetfulness.

"What's gone on in the kitchen?" Albus asked sleepily when he ran into Lily at the bottom of the stairs.

"Mums just going off on dad because we have to go to some Ministry function in a few days and he only just now told her." Lily passed her brother.

"Merlin, no! Not another Ministry function!" Albus whined.

Ginny and Lily decided later that they would make another shopping trip to get dresses for the event and find new ties and jackets for the boys who they knew would not have what they needed for the ball. Even though it was last minute and Lily hated Ministry events, she thought the prospect of getting all nice and pretty would be fun since she never really had the opportunity to do it.


	7. Chapter 7 – New Year's Eve

***insert a million and four apologies here* One more huge I'M SORRY! It has been ages since I updates but I had exams every other week and tons of papers to finish. But now the term is over so I have free time! Thanks always for reviews, favorites, and follows. Enjoy! :)**

"C'mon, Lily!" James shouted up at his sister.

"James, leave her be," Ginny scolded rushing into the living room. She was clasping gold earrings into her ears and scanning the room for something. "have you seen my bag?" she asked. Her son shook his head in response. She huffed and marched back into the kitchen. Harry and Albus came from Harry's home office chatting about Potions. All three of the men wore black dress robes and different coloured ties. Harry's tie was a deep red that matched Ginny's dress, James' was black because he was "in mourning of having to attend a Ministry party instead of going out with his friends" as he had told them all several times, and Albus had put on a silver tie at Lily's request after James refused.

"Got it!" Ginny cried triumphantly from the other room. She came back to join the men with a gold clutch in her hands and a wide smile on her face. "Already then?" she asked grabbing her coat from a chair.

"Still waiting on Lily," Harry said, kissing his wife's cheek and helping her to slide on the coat.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" There was a thudding from upstairs followed by a muffled curse. Lily appeared at the top of the steps and bounced down the stairs, joining her family. "Sorry." Her dress was the same silver shade as Albus' tie. It was a simple, halter-neck gown that flowed to the floor. A thin, satin sash brought the dress in at her waist. The dress was a layer of tulle covering it with flowers sewn in the entire top section and here and there across the skirt.

"You look lovely, dear." Harry kissed his daughter's head. She smiled up at him and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. She had left it down, a rare occurrence, and curled it slightly, an even rarer occurrence. When she walked passed Albus to grab her coat, he noticed she smelled of something flowery. He smiled as he watched her pull the warm fabric over her dress. She had grown up so much and he was sad they didn't get to spend time together anymore.

"Apparate with me?" Albus offered his arm to his sister. She took it with a smile and left the house, the others following right after them.

Upon arriving at the Ministry ballroom, the Potter family was met by the sight of many other people. "Merlin," Lily muttered under her breath, slipping her coat off and passing it to her father who already had her mother's in his hand. She had not expected the guest list to be so extensive for an event like this. Her grip on her brother tightened as they walked further into the room. Lily snagged a glass of Firewhiskey as a tray floated by but the drink was intercepted on the way to her mouth by James.

"I don't think so, Bean." His voice had a scolding tone, but his eyes were still jovial. He downed the beverage before sauntering off to find someone to spend to evening with. Lily looked to the side to see her parents already in an animated discussion with colleagues. She scanned the room for anyone she might know. In her search, she found Ron and his family, Percy and Audrey, Molly and her husband, George and his family, Teddy and Victoire, and the Scamander family. Lily didn't feel like talking to her ex, even if they had ended on good terms, and wanted to avoid Percy the whole evening if she could. Since Teddy and Victoire were already engaged with another couple, she sought the messy, red hair that belonged to her favorite cousin. She spotted him from behind at the table with refreshments. 'Figures,' she thought to herself. She looked up at Al who had obviously spotted a friend of his own.

"You mind if I..." he trailed off, gesturing to one side of the room.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing," Lily said with a small laugh. "I've just spotted Hugo and figured I'd pry him away from the food."

"Good idea." Albus chuckled. "Save me a dance at least?" he asked, separating himself from Lily. She nodded and watched him walk away before turning to make her way to Hugo.

"Food's good I assume?" Lily asked. Hugo jumped and nearly chocked at his cousin's sudden appearance. Lily wrinkled her nose up in disgust at the piece of meat that was half hanging from Hugo's mouth. "Bloody hell, Hugo. That's disgusting." Lily turned her back to him and let him compose himself.

"You took me by surprise," Hugo blamed Lily after swallowing. "And there's nothing to do at these functions _besides_ eat." Lily nodded in agreement.

"I don't know why we're always being dragged out to these things."

"The world eats this stuff up. Just imagine tomorrow's headline, 'The Boy Who Lived Came to Party.' It'll sell a good number of Daily Prophets." Lily shrugged but didn't disagree with him.

"Ten minutes down..." Lily looked over at the massive, ornate clock hanging on a wall. The time was 8:30. "Three and a half hours to go," she groaned, plucking two glasses of Butterbeer off the table and passing one to Hugo. They chatted with a few people here and there as they made a loop around the room. Only half an hour had passed when they were done. The two were delighted by the arrival of a new family to the ball: the Watsons.

Lily had never met or even seen anyone else in the family besides Avery and Lawrence. The family, as a whole, was quite the sight. James was a tall, muscular man with honey, blonde hair and starling, green eyes. He was one of the most attractive men Lily had ever seen and she supposed that is how a lot of woman felt too based on the reactions from several ladies throughout the room. However, he only had eyes for his wife. Jennifer stood several inches shorter than her husband, even in heels. Her hair was strawberry blonde and her eyes a bright blue. She had a radiant smile that was incredibly infectious to all around her. Overall, the two were a beautiful couple that was obviously still head-over-heels in love. Lily turned her attention to the children. Lawrence had spotted his mates and was telling his mother something before leaving his family. Avery, who was in a dark, blue dress, had a firm grip on two smaller kids who Lily assumed were her twin siblings Remington and Rosamund. Avery looked up and saw Lily and Hugo. She had a brief exchange with her mother before crossing the room.

"Thank Merlin you two are here. I thought I'd have to spend all evening wrangling Remy and Rosie," she greeted. Lily laughed and passed her a glass of Butterbeer. "Thanks, Lily. You look gorgeous by the way. What a great color on you."

"Oh thanks," Lily replied sheepishly.

"No really." Avery took Lily's hand and forced her to spin around once. "This dress is fantastic; I love it. You'll have to meet my parents tonight. They've been dying to actually see you in person as opposed to on the front page ever since I mentioned you first year." Lily nodded.

"Yeah, I'd love to." The three chatted amongst themselves for another hour. During this time, they were joined off and on by others including Teddy, Victoire, George, and Ron. The clock struck nine and the three sighed almost simultaneously. Three more hours seemed like forever.

"Incoming," Avery alerted the other two. They turned where she was facing and saw James and Jennifer heading over with the twins in tow. "Mum." Avery gave her mother a kiss on both cheeks. "Dad." Avery hugged her father tightly. "How nice of you to leave such prestigious company and join us."

"We are in prestigious company, dear." Jennifer Watson's voice was smooth and comforting. It put Lily instantly at ease. Avery rolled her eyes.

"Oh, mum! Don't make her feel weird," Avery scolded.

"It's fine. Really," Lily assured the girl and her mother. "I'm Lily." She extended her hand to the stunning woman who looked at it with a quirked eyebrow.

"We'll have none of that, love." Jennifer pulled the redhead into a tight hug. "That's a proper introduction. I'm Jennifer but please just call me Jen. This is my husband, James. I believe the same name as one of your brothers, yes? The one who's friends with Laurie?" Lily nodded, but before she could answer, Jen was on another thought. "Really though, it's so good to finally meet you. Avery has told me so much about you and your group of friends." She turned her attention to Hugo who was taking nervous glances at the vivacious woman in front of him. "Oh and you're Hugo, I assume?" He gulped and nodded before being swept into his own hug. When she released him, they all saw he had turned a shade of red almost as bright as his hair. Avery and Lily snorted but Jen just went on as if she hadn't noticed. James stood silently behind his wife, watching her with a look of admiration on his face. The twins were muttering and giggling between themselves. The music changed into a jazzier song and Jen stopped her conversation abruptly. "Sorry, I love this one." She started to pull her husband out in the center of the room, but not before turning to her youngest children. "Rem, Rose, behave. Please," she added the last word in a desperate tone. Once they had left, Avery turned to Hugo and smacked his arm.

"Ow! Bloody hell, Ave." Hugo rubbed his arm and scowled at her. "What was that for?"

"For ogling my mother, that's what." Hugo turned red again and stammered through an excuse that only made the girls laugh.

Their laughter caught the attention of a group of young men across the room. Amongst these men were Albus and Scorpius. Once Albus saw his sister was part of the ruckus, he rolled his eyes and returned his attention to his friends. Scorpius gaze was locked on the youngest Potter. He felt his breath catch in his throat and his chest tighten. 'What the hell is wrong with me?' He tried to tear his eyes from the girl, but found it difficult. She was absolutely stunning. 'Merlin.' He didn't realize he had been stuck staring at her until he was torn from his thoughts by a familiar voice.

"Alright, Scorpius?" He turned and caught sight of another stunning redhead.

"Jenny!" Scorpius' face broke into a broad grin at the sight of the old family friend. "How are you?"

"Wonderful, love! How are you doing?" she asked. He looked down at his shoes and took a breath before answering.

"I'm alright," he replied.

"Sure you are. But really?" Jen pushed. Scorpius felt his throat tighten, but forced his emotions away.

"I'm alright," he repeated with more force behind his voice. She smiled sympathetically and pulled the taller boy into a tight hug. She released him and her face morphed into a mischievous expression.

"Now," she started. "What on earth caught your eye for so long, Mr. Malfoy?"

"What?" Scorpius feigned innocence but felt his pale face heating up. Jen threw her head back with a laugh.

"Don't worry. I won't tell a soul," she told him seriously. She winked at him before rejoining her husband. Scorpius glanced back over at Lily who appeared to be bothering a still red-faced Hugo.

The next few hours consisted of more eating, more chatting, and more complaints about how the evening was dragging. Around 11, Hugo worked up the nerve to drag Avery out for a couple of dances. Lily watched off to the side with a smile.

"I'm surprised no one's coaxed you out for a dance or two." Lily turned to face Jennifer Watson again.

"I'll probably be out there with Al before the night is over," she admitted.

"Ah, I see." Something about Jen's tone told Lily she was not going to drop the subject. "No one else caught your eye?" she asked. Lily shook her head not entirely sure where this was going. "Well you do look stunning tonight, love." Lily smiled.

"Thanks. I found this dress last minute actually."

"Nice find for last minute. It's a beautiful colour too. Almost a Slytherin silver." That comment caught Lily slightly off-guard.

"Pardon?"

"Slytherin's colours are green and a silver quite like that. I only know because I wore it every day for seven years."

"You were in Slytherin?" Lily couldn't keep the surprise from her voice.

"Mhmm," Jen answered gazing across the room at her husband who was crouched down, talking to his twins. "I'm a Slytherin, James is a Gryffindor. Really a couple that shouldn't work according to everyone including my Pureblood parents. But you love who you love." Jen explained simply. Lily remained stoic during Jen's explanation, surprised Avery had never told her about her mom being in Slytherin.

"Jenny, love." They were joined by James at that moment. Lily realized she hadn't heard him say anything yet. "Rem and Rose are about done for the night." He had a thick Scottish accent that only made him even more attractive. "I'm thinking I should probably take them home. You, Ave, and Laurie can stay as long as you want."

"Don't be daft, J. I'll come too. Lily, dear, it was so nice to meet you. I hope to see you again soon and have a wonderful evening." Jen gave Lily another hug before leaving with her husband.

"What do you think of the Watsons?" Albus asked joining his sister.

"You know them?"

"Yeah. Jen and James are good friends with Scor's parents so I've met them before." Lily was silent at his explanation. She was thinking about Jen's confession of being in Slytherin. "Care for a dance?" Lily stopped thinking and grabbed her brother's hand, dragging him off as her answer. The two spent the better part of the next hour dancing and were in the center of the room as the clock struck midnight. The party began to die down about an hour later. Lily said her goodbyes to her friend and cousin and met up with James while heading over to the exit.

"Have a nice time?" he asked. She smiled and nodding, resting her head on his arm as they walked.

"I'm so exhausted now," she told him before yawning as if to emphasize her point. James stopped in his tracks and Lily would've fallen if he hadn't have grabbed her. "What was that for?" Lily looked over at James who was looking at something with a small frown. She followed his gaze and saw her father in a serious conversation with Scorpius. Lily found it very odd considering she'd never seen them speak before. The two siblings waited for him to walk away before joining their father.

"What was that about?" James demanded.

"It's nothing. Don't worry," Harry assured them with a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. The family finished their goodbyes and headed home. Upon reaching their house, Harry and Ginny immediately retreated into his study which the kids knew had spells warding off eavesdropping.

"What do you suppose that's about?" James asked the other two. Albus shrugged before wishing the two goodnight and heading upstairs to bed. He didn't seem concerned in his parent's business.

"Goodnight, James." Lily kissed her brother's cheek and headed up herself, wanting to unwind after the evening out. Certainly she was curious about what was bothering her parents, but she was too tired and overwhelmed to think about it now.

The last week of the holidays was spent mostly with Lily and Albus sleeping, knowing they would get very little of it once the term started back up. James was the one who took them to the station when it was time to return. They arrived and he gave his brother a firm pat on the back an his sister a bear hug. After helping her load her stuff on board, Al left to find his friends while Lily did the same. Upon finding their compartment, she was greeted by an exasperated Avery and an excited Alice who wanted to know all about the Ministry party. The train ride was spent swapping stories of their break and gifts they received for the holidays. Lily also realized her crush on Grayson had not subsided as she had hoped, but grown. This was going to be a long few months.


	8. Chapter 8 – Finishing Fifth Year

**Thanks for the reviews and enjoy! xoxo**

"Hugo, you git! You're supposed to _catch_ the Quaffle, not drop it!"

"Bloody hell, Elliot! Are you trying to kill the Chasers?"

"Grayson! Are you awake? Are we boring you?"

"Merlin, you lot! Do any of you even know how to play Quidditch?!"

Lily was on a rampage during Quidditch practice. She was chewing everyone out for every tiny mistake and even for things that weren't mistakes. Something had soured her mood the last few weeks and no one could figure out what it was. Her work load hadn't changed, she was still sleeping and eating, and as far as anyone could tell, she was still on good terms with all of her friends and family members. Nevertheless, she was snapping at her team with no mercy.

"Alright. That's enough for now. I can't handle this anymore," Lily announced after another hour. "Get cleaned up, eat, and go to bed. We'll try again later this week. I'll clean everything up." Lily landed and stomped over to the Quidditch supplies and began to gather it.

The other team members landed. Josie, Annie, and Elliot looked over at their leader, but Hugo ushered them off the field before they got decapitated by his cousin. Grayson lingered and watched as Lily threw the bats and Quaffle together. He leaned up against his broom as she wrestled the bludgers into their place. He continued to watch Lily as she tucked a few stray hairs behind her ears and chuckled when they fell back into her face immediately. Lily whipped around when she heard she was not alone and turned a little pink when she saw who was watching her.

"Oh," she muttered. "Sorry, I didn't know anyone else was still here." She looked down at the grass on the pitch.

"You were in quite the mood today."

"Yeah..." Lily trailed off and looked anywhere but _at_ Grayson. "Listen I'm sorry about today. I just haven't really been sleeping all that well and the Slytherin match is next week and I know I shouldn't yell but I-"

"Lily!" Grayson cut her off laughing and stepped closer to the stressed red-head. "I understand. And I'm sure everyone else gets it too." When she still looked unsure, Grayson grabbed her shoulders. "Really, Lily." They stared at each other for an awkward moment before Grayson released Lily and cleared his throat. "Anyway...I just...yeah." Now he was the one turning pink. "Uh...dinner! Up at the castle. We should..." He gestured to the school. " I mean, if you're hungry and all."

"Yeah," Lily cut him off. "We should eat. Food. Now." She winced inwardly at her choppy reply. Why was this conversation so awkward? They headed up to the castle together after dumping all of the supplies in their proper place. They chatted about his sister Oakley, who was a Ravenclaw two years below them, and the upcoming Potions essay. She didn't know why their chat seemed so forced.

Upon reaching the castle, they joined the rest of the team at the Gryffindor table. Her teammates all greeted her with smiles even though she had spent the majority of the afternoon yelling at them. By nine, they all were back in the common room parting ways for the night. Grayson stopped Lily as she started the climb to the girl's dorms.

"Hey," he paused. "We should grab some Butterbeer at the next Hogsemede trip. I mean we always do but I mean...maybe _we_ could. Just us?" Grayson tone was hopeful and his eyebrow was quirked in a questioning expression.

"I'd like that," Lily replied with a small smile. She didn't feel enthusiastic though. Why wasn't she freaking out? She had wanted this for months. So why did she feel like this somehow wasn't right? She told Grayson goodnight and headed upstairs to her room. She would have to run the situation past the girls in the morning.

As Lily was headed down to breakfast, she ran into Alice.

"Good morning, Li-"

"Come with me." Lily latched onto Alice's arm and dragged her into the Great Hall. She marched them over to the Ravenclaw table where Avery was reading the Daily Prophet and eating toast. As Lily and Alice plopped down in front of her, she dropped the slice in surprise.

"I didn't know you two'd be joining me this morn-"

"Grayson asked me out." Alice spat out the orange juice she had grabbed and Avery's jaw dropped. They both stared at her in stunned silence. "Yeah. I know. It's weird. But the weirder part is, I don't think I wanted him to." Both girls exchanged confused looks.

"Are you saying that maybe you like someone else or..."

"No." She interrupted Avery. "It's not that. It just sort of feels like I lost interest. Which doesn't make _any_ sense."

"Are you going to at least go out with him?" Alice asked. Lily nodded in response. "That's good. You may go out and realize it was just nerves or something," she suggested.

"I hope so," Lily moaned, letting her forehead rest on the table. "I think I've gone mad." The girls both chuckled.

"Oh, Merlin!" Alice gasped as she caught sight of the time. "I've got to go. Transfiguration with the Slytherins this morning." She gathered he bag and books and bid farewell to the others. Lily and Avery left soon after for the Potions class they had together.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," Lily started. Avery turned her attention to her friend. "Your mum, I was talking to her at the Ministry thing a couple weeks back, and she mentioned that when she was at Hogwarts, she was in Slytherin. You've never talked about that at all. I was just curious why?"

"You sort of notoriously don't like people from that house, Lily. I figured it wouldn't do any good to even mention it. That and it never really came up."

"But you always seem to be on my side in all of the fights I get in with the Slytherins."

"Cause I'm your friend," Avery justified. "I'll always have your back. But, not that you bring it up, I've never had a problem with any of them really. Which I never brought up due to the obvious animosity."

"Your mum then, does she know the Malfoys?" Lily tried to ask the question casually, but she knew it didn't work.

"Oh, yeah. She's good friends with Astoria actually. They were in the same year. That doesn't mean I grew up having playdates with Scorpius, but I've known him since I was a kid. Honestly," Avery paused, as she tried to assess how Lily would respond to her next statement. "Well, Scorpius isn't all that bad." When she saw no reaction from Lily, Avery continued. "His family is different than you think it is. And his mum is cool. His dad's not half bad either." At that moment, the two arrived at their Potions classroom. "Anyway," Avery paused before entering the room. "Yeah," she finished weakly before both girls headed into the classroom and never brought up the conversation again.

Saturday morning came and the entire school was headed down to the Quidditch pitch to watch Slytherin face Gryffindor in the final match of the year. Lily sat at the breakfast table with her team basically shaking in her seat. This was the biggest game they would play and she was doing it without James having her back. She stared blankly at her plate with a knot in her stomach. Her friends watched her with concern.

"Lily, c'mon. Eat something," Alice begged. Lily shook her head. "Please." Lily still refused. Grayson entered the Great Hall and made his way over to them.

"Morning, everyone!"

"Why are you so chipper?" Hugo shot at the team's Keeper.

"Big match today. I think we're gonna win." He sat down on Lily's right and grabbed a piece of toast. He took a couple of bites before noticing how pale Lily was. "You alright?" She only shook her head and refused to look him in the eyes. At that moment, the Slytherin team walked into the Great Hall together and sat at their table for breakfast. Lily finally looked up from her plate to look at them.

"Merlin, I'm gonna be sick." She leapt from her seat and bolted from the Hall. After pausing for only a second, Grayson followed.

"Poor thing," Avery muttered as they all watched them go. The team eventually left for the lockers where they found Lily sitting on a bench, head in hands, and Grayson next to her, hand on her back.

"Lily?" Hugo addressed the Captain. She slowly stood up and looked at her team.

"Alright," she started. "It's been long season, but it's been a good one. You all have worked so hard an it's been great to have some of you on the team for the first time this year. Jackson, Elliot, you two work really well when you're on the same wavelength but not so well when you aren't. So don't let that happen. Hugo, Josie, Annie, you're some of the best flyers I have ever seen. And your dynamic is magic. Don't let the Slytherins get to you. You're so much better than them. Grayson, I've never seen a Keeper move as fast as you do. You seem to know the Chasers' moves before they do. But watch out because the Beaters on Slytherin aren't always clean players. That's the number one thing I'd have for advice today. Play fair. Play clean. If you do, we can win." She finished her speech and the team all stood and stared. "Alright, that's it. Get out there!" she ordered them.

The left for the pitch in silence. The met the Slytherin team in the center where Lily shook hands were her brother. He smiled firmly, but friendly at his sister who returned the smile. The whistle was blown and both teams took to the skies. As she expected, the match was excruciatingly long. They had been playing for three hours with still no sign of the Snitch. The score was 150-120 with Gryffindor holding the lead. Lily had also predicted the sticky tactics that the Slytherin team brought to the game. After another hour of gameplay, Lily was getting incredibly frustrated and she could she her brother was too. Then, she spotted it: the golden Snitch. She paused and quickly tore her stare from the small ball in hopes Al wouldn't notice. Luckily, he hadn't been watching her. So she slowly began to circle the pitch with the Snitch in her sights. This caught Albus' attention and he began to follow his sister. She knew he would soon have his eyes on the ball so she decided to just go for it. The crowds now turned their attention to the Seekers and began to scream as they watched a race between Potters. The gameplay below the Seekers ceased as they too watched the siblings battle it out for the win. The Snitch dived and so did Lily and Albus. This is where Lily could use her advantage of being smaller and therefore faster. Albus knew that Lily was going to catch it as she inched closer than he did. They both stretched out their hands and suddenly, they were both tumbling on the ground. After a hushed moment, Lily stood, holding the Snitch in her hand. The crowd erupted in an ear-shattering scream.

"Good game, bug." Lily turned to see her sweaty, dirty brother extending a hand. She ignored it and instead threw her arms around his neck even though they were both filthy.

"I never could have gotten this far without learning to fly from you," she told him before letting go. Albus only nodded, touched by her confession. They were soon bombarded by the Gryffindor team. Albus knew the entire pitch was about to be flooded by the majority of the school, so he and his team decided to back off to the side. He knew that leaving would make them look like bad sports. Hugo was the first team member to reach the Captain.

"You brilliant little maniac! Oh I love you, I love you, I love you!" He scooped his cousin up into a giant hug and spun her around while continuing to shout her praises. Lily laughed loudly while half-heartedly insisting he put her down. The rest of the team joined the two and Lily was set down so they could celebrate together. She threw her arms around Josie and Annie, nearly tackling the smaller girls. They screamed in laughter and were steadied by Jackson. She let them go and as she hugged Jackson, she noticed the students piling onto the field. Suddenly, where everyone could see, Grayson pulled Lily into a kiss. The boys whooped in encouragement and the girls squealed in shock and delight. Lily was so taken aback she froze in the kiss. This seemed so against his character, but she assumed her was just swept up in all of the crazy excitement. He finally let her go and her wide eyes gave him a questioning look that was not answered because the two of them were surrounded by shouting Gryffindors.

The entire House made their way to the Common Room followed by quite a few Ravenclaw and Hufflepuffs including Avery and Alice who were gushing about the snog session Lily and Grayson had after the game. The celebrations lasted way into the morning since there was no class the next day. As the last few people drifted off the bed, Grayson caught Lily's attention.

"Hey." He hadn't seen her since right after the game. "So tomorrow, do you want to do Hogsmede?" he asked hopefully. Lily was confused by the whole situation with him, but knew she couldn't reject him at this point.

"Yeah, sure. As long as it's not too early," she joked. He laughed in response.

"How does midday sound?" She nodded. "Okay, see you then." When he smiled at her, she remembered why she had first developed a crush on him: his adorable smile with those irresistible dimples. Even though she wasn't too sure about the whole situation, she realized she was excited for their date the next day.

Around noon, Lily dragged herself from her bed and pulled on a sweater and jeans. Over it, she added a scarf and a light coat. She slipped her feet into a pair of fuzzy boots as she pulled her hair up into a tight ponytail to keep the pesky strands from her face. She made her way downstairs where Grayson was waiting.

"Morning!" he greeted cheerily.

"Hey." Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"No," Grayson shook his head. "I only just got down here." His messy hair seemed to corroborate his statement. The two made their way downstairs and to the path towards the small town not far from the school. Hogsmede was not nearly as busy as it usually was since most students were still in bed recovering from the celebrations. Lily was grateful for the laid-back atmosphere this brought to the date. After grabbing a couple of Butterbeers, the two took a walk to the Shrieking Shack.

"I've always wanted to come over this way," she told him.

"I remember you saying that a couple of months ago," he told her. Lily's heart fluttered at this. "It's a little creepy." She nodded in agreement, although her focus was pinpointed on the man rather than the landmark. He turned his gaze on the red-head with a look of adoration in his eyes.

"Can I kiss you?" he asked suddenly. Lily was taken aback by his question. He clearly had no qualms with kissing here due to the fact that he had laid one on her in front of basically the entire school, but he was asking now. "I got..excited I guess after the match when I kissed you then," he began explaining. "I just lost it a bit. That's not how I wanted to kiss you for the first time. So if you could maybe forget about that and let me try to start us off right, that'd be nice." Lily bit her lip and tried to prevent the grin from coming to her face. He was freaking adorable. She looked up at him and nodded.

Grayson gently placed a hand on her cheek and stepped closer to her. He ducked down and placed a soft kiss on her lips. After a couple of seconds, Lily took the initiative to deepen the kiss and slid her arms around her neck and pulled him tighter to her. His hand moved from her face to her waist where he barely held her as if he was afraid of breaking her. Their kiss ended after a few minutes and they separated. Grayson wrapped his arms fully around her and pulled her to his body. He was warm and comforting and it felt closer to right than it had before. They spent another hour at the Shack before heading up to the castle for dinner hand in hand. Upon reaching the Great Hall, they joined Hugo and Elliot at the table.

"Hey, mate. Evening, Lily. Nice day?" Hugo greeted the pair first, unaware of how close they were sitting.

"It was great," Lily responded sharing a look with Grayson. Elliot picked up on their vibe immediately and quirked an eyebrow.

"Where were the two of you today?" he asked. "I was in the library all afternoon and I didn't see either of you. And it's too cold to study outside yet." Elliot tried to make the question sound casual, but it came out accusatory.

"Hogsmede," Grayson answered before sipping from his goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Just the two of you?"

"Yeah...why?" Grayson caught the interrogating tone.

"The two of you just don't ever really hang out on your own," he commented.

"Well it was a date," Grayson explained simply.

"A what?" This had caught Hugo's attention. "Are you two a thing now? Everyone just assumed it was adrenaline from the game yesterday. But dating?"

"I guess we _are_ dating now."

"Alright," Hugo shrugged off Grayson's confession. "As long as you understand the terms and conditions of dating my cousin. And that not only will I kill you if you hurt her, and Albus will kill you, but so will James, Fred, Uncle George, Charlie-"

"Hugo!" Lily cut him off. "I think he gets it."

Everyone turned out to be totally okay with the two of them being together. Lily even wrote her parents, James, and Teddy who all responded positively. Of course their responses didn't come without threats of them maiming him if he hurt Lily, but that was to be expected. Grayson told Lily his parents were equally as thrilled to hear about the two of them being a thing. Oakley, Grayson's little sister, approached Lily about a week after they had become official.

"I know everyone is all concerned with my brother hurting you, but he's not that kind of guy. What I'm worried about is your intentions. Because if you hurt my brother," the little third year threatened. It took everything in Lily not to laugh at how adorable she was. After swearing that she really did like Grayson, Oakley gave Lily her blessing.

The last month of school was mostly filled with studying for OWLs, but Lily and Grayson made time to hang out by themselves at least once a week. For her sixteenth birthday, which was just a few weeks before the end of the term, Grayson arranged a huge surprise party at The Three Broomsticks with all of her friends from school and even some of her family members.

Finally, the OWLs and NEWTs had ended. Albus was done with school forever and Lily only had two years remaining. Lily was sad Hugo was now the only family member she had left at school but figured she never really saw all that much of Albus anyway. The students couldn't pack up their belongings for summer holidays fast enough. The jovial atmosphere on the Hogwarts Express on the way back to King's Cross was infectious, and every student had a smile on their face as the train came into London. Lily hugged her friends goodbye knowing she would see them several times during the break. Grayson pulled her off to the side to tell her goodbye.

"I got you something," he told her sheepishly.

"Gray! I told you to stop doing that!" Lily always protested at Grayson's insistence at showering her with little presents, but he knew she loved it. He passed over a Gryffindor gold bracelet with a single charm on it. Upon further examination, Lily saw the charm was a lily flower.

"Obviously it's for your name," Grayson started to explain. "This is a charm bracelet though. And this charm is only the first of many." Lily threw her arms around her boyfriend's neck.

"Stop! You're too much!" She pulled back and kissed him. Grayson was the one to end the kiss reluctantly.

"You've got to go, Lil. Your family is waiting. My family is waiting." Grayson laughed at Lily's pout. "Cut it out, you. I'll see you at the wedding in a couple of weeks." She nodded and let him go, slipping the bracelet on her wrist.

"Bye." Lily squeezed his hand before walking away to find her family. It didn't take long to find them. Even though there wasn't as many family members there as in past years, they were still loud enough to attract attention. Lily rolled her eyes in amusement and made her way over to where her parents, Aunt and Uncle, Hugo, and Albus were waiting. After many hugs from the men and kisses from the woman, they headed home.


	9. Chapter 9 – A wedding and OWL results

**The writer's block was real for this chapter. I am sorry it takes me so long. Enjoy! :)**

Lily was eating breakfast with Victoire and talking about the wedding that was just days away when Albus marched into the kitchen and dropped that morning's copy of the Daily Prophet on the table in front of her. When Lily looked down and caught what the headline was, she nearly spat out her pumpkin juice.

"Dammit!" she swore loudly.

"Language," her mother called from the parlour.

"Sorry!" she shouted back. Lily picked up the paper and scowled. "Bloody hell," she muttered so her mother would not hear her swear. On the front page was a moving picture of her and Grayson at King's Cross station in their embrace. Underneath, the headline "Potter Daughter in Love." Lily was sure the following article was filled with exaggerations and false information and didn't see the need to continue reading, so she laid the paper down on the table. Victoire picked it up so she could see what the fuss was all about.

"Merlin!" She cupped a hand over her mouth and looked up at Lily with a hint of concern in her eyes. "Oh, Lily. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Tor." Lily waved off her cousin's concern. "It's honestly fine. Just annoying that people can't keep their noses out of my business." Olivia hopped up on the table and rubbed against her owner. Lily absentmindedly stoked her behind the ears while she furrowed her brow in thought. Suddenly, in the middle of Albus saying something to her that she wasn't listening to, Lily hopped up from the table, nearly knocking her chair over. "Grayson! I have to owl him." Lily rushed upstairs to pen out a letter to her boyfriend in the hopes he wasn't too perturbed by the article.

As it turned out, Grayson was rather amused by the article and his little sister thought it was funny to see her brother on the front page of a newspaper. His parents were a little taken aback at first, but they had warmed to the situation. No one in the Potter-Weasley family was upset and most of the cousins used this as an opportunity to relentlessly tease the youngest.

A couple of days later, the entire family was together preparing for Teddy and Victoire's wedding which would take place the next day. Molly was in the Burrow with Audrey and her daughters, Ginny, and Angelina cooking every dish you could possibly imagine for the reception the next day. Victoire and Dominique were upstairs working on some of the hems for the bridesmaids' dresses. Harry, George, Bill, Teddy, and Fred had apparated to a nearby, open field where the ceremony was to take place. They were setting up a covering to keep the afternoon sun out of the guests faces and arranging the chairs. Just down the hill, was an old abandoned barn that the family had spent the last few weekends repainting and updating. Ron and Charlie were on the outside of the barn making sure everything was in order, the paint was even, and overall things just looked perfect for the next day. James, Albus, Hugo, Louis, and Roxanne were inside setting up all of the tables and chairs for the reception. Hermione, Rose, and Lily had been put in charge of all of the last minute decorating. Fleur had been flitting about from place to place making sure everything was going perfectly and in general, just stressing everyone out immensely. It was the fifth time that Fleur had micro-managed Lily's flower arranging skills when she almost snapped. As she apparated away, Lily looked up at her cousin.

"I swear if she yells at me in French one more time," Lily threatened. Rose snorted. "I'm serious!" Lily insisted trying to keep a grin from her face, but failing miserably. "Does she really not think I don't understand what she's saying? I do speak a little French and I can tell when she's insulting me." Lily looked back down at the flowers she was arranging for the table she was sitting on. Suddenly, the dim barn was filled with a warm light. Everyone looked up and saw that Hermione had gotten the twinkling, floating fairy lights all in place and to come on.

"Nice work, mum!" Hugo praised his mother. Hermione received quite a lot of praise and insistence that tomorrow, everyone would be in awe of how good everything looked. After about another hour of work, everything was in place. The whitewashed barn had polished wooden floors and tables with pristine white tablecloths and vases of flowers on them. The chairs at the tables had fluffy cushions and flowers twisted on them. Of course the lights floated at the top of the building and hanging from the roof and down the walls, a flowing, transparent fabric that gave the room a fairy-tale feel to it. Those in the barn closed it up and headed to the top of the hill to see how the others were faring. They found those there completed with their task and standing about chatting. The wildflowers that filled the field had been removed from everywhere under the tent, but left as they were elsewhere. The whole wedding was going to have such a whimsical feel to it.

The group apparated back to the Burrow to help finish the cooking and any other task that needed to be accomplished the the last few hours they had in the day. Family members started dropping off as they night wore on. Around midnight, those still working decided to call it quits and get as much rest as they could.

Morning came and the weather was perfect for a wedding. The temperature was mild, the skies were scattered with clouds to give relief from the sun, and a light breeze in the air. These conditions set a good tone from the moment everyone arose. Molly had woken up before the sun the begin a large breakfast which people ate as they came downstairs. Teddy was a ball of nerves all morning, pacing about from room to room and eating anything he could get his hands on. He was chased out of the kitchen multiple times by Molly when he tried to get at the food for the evening. The girls all started on makeup and hair once they were up and helped each other once they were done.

A little bit after noon, the family gathered in the dining room for lunch, knowing they wouldn't have an opportunity to be altogether anytime the rest of the day. George had just finished telling a long-winded joke when Arthur stood slowly and cleared his throat to get the attention of everyone.

"I cannot tell you," the eldest Weasley began, "how much it warms my heart to have you all together here today. This entire family is more than I could have ever hoped for. I love you all so much and I am so glad that Teddy is going to become on official member of the family. I know we all have considered him part of it since he was born, but now he can't deny it." The family laughed. "I'm not one for long speeches so I'll sit down now." Arthur ended his speech and gingerly sat back down.

Final preparations and emergencies were handled. The guests were arriving. The family was dressed and ready. Everyone but those in the wedding party apparated over to the field to greet guests and take their seats. The wedding party had four family members, James and Albus were two of Teddy's groomsmen and Dominique and Lily were two of Fleur's bridesmaids. The best man and maid of honor were Roger and Evelyn, friends from school who often went on double dates with the bride and groom. They had recently become engaged themselves. Finishing out the party was Drew, Teddy's mate from Gryffindor, and Piper, a good friend of Victoire's from Hufflepuff. The men were all in brown suits with pastel colored ties: Teddy's was lavender, Roger's peach, James' yellow, Albus' blue, and Drew's pink. Teddy's hair was a balayage of platinum and violet, something that had exasperated Molly who wanted him to change it into a normal color.

The time neared four, and the men took their leave for the field. The girls all gathered downstairs and Victoire fretted in the mirror over the pins in her hair. She was a vision in her dress. The bodice was off the shoulders and had lacy flowers overlaying it. The flowers lessened as they trailed down the tulle bottom of the dress until about three quarters of the way down where they stopped. Her veil went down to her lower back and was attached into her curly up-do. She wore simple jewelry that would not distract from the dress. All in all, she was a stunning bride. The bridesmaids were all in the same blush gown. It had a sweetheart neckline in a satiny fabric that flowed into a tulle bottom. Each girl was going to carry a bouquet of baby's breath with a few pastel flowers. Victoire's bouquet was much more elaborate, but had the same flowers in it.

"But what if the pins slip out or something?" Victoire was worrying over the tiniest detail that really didn't even matter at this point.

"Now you're just being ridiculous, love." It was Piper who stood from her seat and pulled Victoire away from the mirror. She turned the bride around to face her. "You look beautiful. We gotta move our asses or you're gonna be late to your own wedding."

The ceremony was short and sweet, but beautiful. Most of the mothers were crying and even Bill shed a few tears himself. When it was time for the kiss, Teddy dipped Victoire and planted a huge one on his now wife. This received a big laugh from everyone. Afterwards, the wedding party and the guests headed down into the barn where the fun began.

Waiters flitted from table to table with trays of food and drinks the family had prepared to keep the guests satisfied. Lily was at a table with her brothers, Dominque and her boyfriend Alain, Piper and her boyfriend, and Drew. Lily had been scanning the reception guests in search of her boyfriend and his family. She found him scanning the room himself, obviously looking for her. She smiled as she watched his brow furrow as he sorted through the tons of guests. Finally, their eyes met and his whole face lit up.

"I'll be right back," Lily told her table. She stood and weaved through people to reach the Wood family. Once she reached them, she was wrapped into a hug by Grayson.

"You look gorgeous."

"Not so bad yourself," Lily told him, giving her boyfriend a once over. She turned her attention to the rest of his family, hugging Oakley before addressing his parents. "I'm so glad you all could come."

"We are too," Oliver told her with a smile. After a short exchange, Lily decided to rejoin her table.

"Save me a dance?" Grayson asked. Lily nodded and kissed his cheek before walking away. Everyone danced and ate the night away. Lily spent a few hours on the dance floor with her brothers, father, boyfriend, and she even saved a dance for Teddy towards the end of the night.

"Thanks so much for all the help with the wedding," Teddy told her as the swayed to one of the slower tunes.

"Of course."

"Nervous about your OWL results?"

"Oh don't remind me! I don't want to think about it until I absolutely have too. And that will be when the letter with my results is delivered to the house." Teddy laughed. They finished the dance and Teddy returned to his wife as Lily joined her boyfriend for another few dances.

A couple of weeks later, all of Lily's friends were gathered at the Potter household as they were expecting their OWLs results sometime early afternoon. A plate of sandwiches sat on the table for the teens to enjoy. Hugo, Elliot, and Alice were stress eating their way through several sandwiches apiece while Avery and Lily were too nervous to even look at food. Avery sat by the window, eyes locked in the skies as Lily paced the room. Grayson sat off to the side with his nose buried in a Quidditch strategy book. He was trying to give off the vibe that he wasn't nervous, but on the side, his stomach was in knots. Ginny came into the room with a fresh plate of sandwiches which were quickly leapt upon by Hugo and Alice.

"Honestly, I don't know how you two can so that." Avery had turned from the window and had her nose crinkled up in a disgusted manner.

"I eat when I'm nervous," Hugo mumbled through the mouthful of food. Avery rolled her eyes and turned back to the window and didn't se Hugo sit up straighter and eat his food like a normal human being.

"Merlin, where are those bloody owls?" Lily stopped pacing and crossed her arms, staring out the window with Avery.

"I'm sure it won't be that much longer," Grayson tried to comfort Lily, peeking over his book. She ignored him and went back to her pacing. A crack in the yard drew the attention of all six.

"False alarm!" Avery announced before the other five rushed to the window. "Just Albus and Scorpius apparating." The others went back to what they were doing as the two recent graduates entered the house. Albus laughed when he saw them.

"I remember waiting for my OWLs. We still have to wait another few weeks for out NEWT results." Scorpius nodded in agreement.

"Shove off, Al. You're not helping," Lily whined.

"Lily, I have no doubt you're going to be absolutely fine. In fact, you'll be bloody brilliant." Albus was stepping into the role that Teddy and James often served for Lily.

"Thanks," Lily murmured. Albus walked over and stopped his sister's nervous movement.

"I'm serious, Lily-bug." He wrapped her in a tight hug which she returned. "Alright, this is getting too mushy." Albus let her go and Lily rolled her eyes but bit back a smirk.

"Prick."

"Oh!" Albus brought her hands over his heart in mock hurt. "You wound me, fair flower!" He staggered back into the wall in an overdramatized fashion. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Merlin, Al." He started for the kitchen. "Join me when you decide to stop acting like such a wanker," Scorpius called over his shoulder. Lily hate to admit it, but she snorted. Albus winked at his sister before joining his friend in the kitchen.

Twenty minutes later, Avery let out an unintelligible shriek. Later, she told them all she had screamed that the owls were here, but all of them insisted they heard none of those words exit her mouth. Avery threw open the window and three owls flew in with two letters attached to each of them. Each of the students retrieved their respective letters. They all held them in their hands and exchanged glances, too nervous to open them and see their results.

"Okay," Hugo sighed. "On the count of three."

"One...two," Elliot started the count. Lily tore open the envelope before the three left his mouth and everyone followed suit. What followed was a shrieks and shouts of joy and jubilation.

Lily had received O's in Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Astronomy, and Ancient Ruins and E's in History of Magic and Arithmancy. Avery had gotten all O's in all of her classes which were the same as Lily's. Hugo had gotten O's in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, and Transfiguration; E's in Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, Herbology, and Muggle Studies; and A's in Astronomy and History of Magic. Grayson got O's in Transfiguration, Charms, Astronomy, History of Magic, and Care of Magical Creatures and E's in Ancient Ruins, Herbology, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Alice received O's in Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies; E's in Charms and Astronomy; A's in Transfiguration, Potions, and Defense Against the Dark Arts; and a lonely little P in History of Magic. Elliot got an O in Care of Magical Creatures; E's in Herbology and Astronomy; A's in Transfiguration, Charms, and Defense Against the Dark Arts; P's in Potions and Ancient Ruins; and a D in History of Magic. No one was too shocked by the results, but Lily and Avery were pleasantly surprised at how well they did.

Ginny, Albus, and Scorpius were drawn into the room once they heard the screams. They were met with the sight of the six of them in the center of the room passing their letters back and forth. Hugo threw his arms around Lily and Avery.

"You, nerds!" The girls broke free from him laughing. Grayson took the opportunity to scoop his girlfriend up into a huge hug shouting her praises. Ginny managed to find her daughter's results from the midst of the craziness and look over what it said. Her heart filled with pride as she showed her son and his friend what Lily had achieved before heading back into the kitchen where she reading and sipping on some tea.

"Damn, Al. Your sister's brilliant. Looks like she'll be coming for us at the Ministry once she graduates," Scorpius admitted, looking over the youngest Potter's scores. Albus raised an eyebrow at his friend. "What?" Scorpius shot back defensively. Albus kept silent and rejoined his mother in the kitchen, followed quickly by the Malfoy heir.

Lily decided that for the next two years she would be taking Transfiguration, Potions, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Ancient Ruins, and Alchemy, which was being offered especially for her by the Potions professor. He had told her at the end of fifth year that he would be glad to give her special lessons in the subject as he had done the same for a student two years prior, although he would not tell her who that student was.


	10. Chapter 10 – Sixth Year part 1

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Albus and Rose received high marks in their NEWTs and everyone knew that meant Albus would be joining his family members as an Auror. Rose, however, shocked everyone with the announcement that she would be working for the Ministry in the Muggle Relations department. Lily was a little surprised when Albus mentioned at dinner one night that Scorpius would be training to be an Auror too.

Summer ended and sixth year began. That year, Avery's younger twin siblings Remington and Rosamund would be attending Hogwarts for their first year. James and Jenny were at the station with their kids looking a bit frazzled, which was understandable considering the twins would not stop moving and threatening each other with their wands.

"Kids, please!" Jenny finally begged her children to stop for a least a second. Lily made her way over to the Watson family. Avery smiled at her friend's approach.

"Wanna help get the hooligans on the train?" she asked hopefully.

"Hmm tempting," Lily responded with a laugh.

"Oh, Lily!" Jenny greeted the Potter enthusiastically. "How have you been, love?" The woman wrapped the girl in a hug.

"Hello, Mrs. Watson. Need some help with the twins?"

"That would be wonderful. Remi! Rosy!" Jenny called them over. The twins skidded to a halt in front of their parents, breathless and disheveled. Jenny straightened them out and kissed them both goodbye. They hugged their mother and father and joined the girls on the train. Avery had them sit with her and the rest of the group to make sure they stayed out of trouble. As they were walking into the Great Hall for the sorting and dinner, Avery turned to Lily.

"Mark my words, both of them will be in Slytherin," she told her before joining her House at the Ravenclaw table. Just as she said, both Remi and Rosy joined the Slytherin table by the end of the sorting ceremony.

Jenny was thrilled when the twins wrote her of their sorting. James, understandably, was a bit concerned that this would only encourage his kids rambunctious mannerisms. Avery assured her parents that her group of friends would keep a close eye on the kids over the next two years. The twins ended up trying out for their House's Quidditch team. Everyone assumed they would be going for Beaters, but they surprised all when they were both put in Chaser positions – quite a feat for first years.

Lily found that sixth year was much harder than she thought it was going to be. With her more than full load of classes, captaining the Quidditch team, having a boyfriend, preparing for NEWTs, and private alchemy lessons, she found that she was not getting nearly as much sleep as she would have liked to be getting. Even though she was majorly stressed and exhausted, she was enjoying her time. Her alchemy lessons were turning out to be her absolute favorite part of that year. Professor Williams had gone to school with her father's parents and thought Lily was a lot like her grandmother. This made their professor-student relationship more like friends. She often stayed in his office past their lessons chatting about life and he would make them a pot of tea. He reminded her a lot of her grandfather Arthur and enjoyed forgetting about the stress of sixth year for an hour or so.

"Really though, I should go now," Lily said breathlessly as she recovered from laughing at a story Professor Williams had told about first year's mistakes in Potions class. "I've got Quidditch practice tonight and still need to finish that Potions essay for you."

"Ah." Professor Williams waved off her worries. "If the essay is a tad bit late, I wouldn't be too upset."

"Now you can't go showing favoritism. Well...more than you already have," Lily chided. Professor Williams laughed but did not deny Lily was his favorite. "Have a good day, sir."

"You too, Miss Potter."

Lily left his office and started down the hallway, pulling out her Potions book and flipping to the page she knew she needed for her essay. She was so invested in the chapter that she wasn't watching where she was going and when she turned a corner, ran into a small person.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I should've be-" Lily looked down at a familiar face. "Rosamund, you alright?" she asked upon seeing the small Slytherin's furrowed brow.

"I'm fine," she forced through gritted teeth. Lily could see her eyes were bloodshot as if she'd been crying and the tip of her nose was pink as if it had been running.

"Merlin, what's happened?" Lily squatted to the girl's level. "Rosy?" she prodded when she got no response.

"I don't know why he has to be such a git!" Rosamund shouted.

"Remington?"

"No," Rosamund paused, scanning the hallways for any eavesdroppers. "Joshua Merriweather."

"Who? Is it someone in your House? Do I need to beat him up?"

"No," Rosamund sniffled. She rubbed her eyes and took a breath, calming herself. "He is in my House yes, a year above me. You don't need to hurt him though. It would probably only make things worse."

"Make what worse? What's he done to you, kid?" Lily was very confused by the first year's run-around responses.

"He was being nice and helping me with my Charms homework cause he's really good at it. And then he was all happy for me making the team. He was eating with me at the table and he spent time with me in the Common Room." Now she was rambling.

"Rosy, I'm lost. What's the issue?"

"The _issue_ is that now he's being all nice and making eyes at Katherine Beaumont. She's a Hufflepuff in his year." Suddenly, things became clearer to Lily and she did all she could not to laugh at the poor girl's predicament.

"So...you don't like him hanging around Katherine, do you?" Rosamund shook her head. "You prefer it when he pays attention to you?" Another nod. "Well, Ros dear, I'm going to let you in on a little secret." The small Slytherin perked up at the words. "Boys can be jerks. They really, really can. Sometimes, the ones you like _most_ are the biggest jerks of all. But you can't help it; it's not your fault for liking them. You just have to forget about the gits and the prats and all the immature boys too. One day they'll grow up, but you don't really want one of those boys. You want one smarter than them. But you needn't be concerned with all that rubbish now." The two heard rushed footsteps echoing down the hall and Lily looked past Rosamund to see her twin.

"There you are!" Remington's voice was filled with relief. Lily noticed he had both of their bags slung over his shoulders and a balled up handkerchief in his hand. "Are you alright, Ros?" She nodded and stood up a little straighter than before.

"Yeah. I'm fine." She turned to Lily with a small smile on her face. "Thanks, Lily."

"Anytime, munchkin," she told her fondly. The twins started towards the dungeons and Lily stood in the hall watching them.

"Here." Remington passed his sister the ball in his hands. She unwrapped it and found half of a sandwich. "You didn't get to finish eating before you left and I was worried you'd get hungry in Potions."

"It was the cutest most purest thing I have ever witnessed in my time here on earth," Lily told Avery later. "I know most of the time those two are literally Satan reincarnate, but this afternoon my heart was absolutely _melting_."

"I can't believe-" Avery paused. "You know what. I can believe she's already having boy problems. Mum will think this is hilarious." The group of friends laughed.

Quidditch practice that night didn't go as well as Lily wished it would have. Jackson had finished his seventh year and so they had to fill his position as Beater. Lily decided to take on Jasper Knight, a fifth year who flew extremely well. He was talented but wasn't the best team player. Slowly but surely he was learning. He was also a bit annoying because of his nonstop flirting with Lily even though he knew she was very much involved with Grayson. Today was proving to be a rough practice. Jasper was getting fed up with Elliot, who was distracted by something that evening. He would stop flying and lecture Elliot and working with him. Lily finally decided she had had enough and told everyone to go get some rest. She called Jasper back to have a word with him.

"What was that, Knight?" she demanded.

"What?"

"Your performance tonight. It left something to be desired, don't you think?"

"I thought I did well," Jasper said shrugging.

"Well you didn't," she told him flatly. "You're so talented and we've been making great progress in teamwork but today...I don't know what that was. You need to lay off El, alright? I'm the Captain; I call the shots. Got it?" He nodded looking slightly ashamed.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"S'alright, Jasper. Just don't let it happen again." He nodded and slunk off to the changing rooms. "I wasn't too rough on him was I?" Lily asked Grayson who had waited behind.

"Not at all," he assured her reaching out to take her hand. "He needs a little tough love sometimes."

"That's quite an understatement," Lily said with a laugh. Their conversation hit a comfortable lull. Once they made it to the stairs, Lily started talking again. "What was up will Elliot tonight?"

"You know I'm not entirely sure. He's been a tad bit moody lately and I can't figure out what's got his knickers in a twist. I asked him the other day what was bothering him but he blew me off."

"That's odd," Lily commented, her brow furrowed slightly. "I'll ask him about it tomorrow."

The next day, Lily cornered Elliot on their way to Charms. He had been walking alone, his gaze transfixed on the floor.

"El?" Lily got his attention. "You alright? You've been off the last week or so."

"I'm fine."

"Clearly your not fine. And it's staring to effect your playing ability which I can't have."

"Then replace me," he shot back.

"Merlin, calm down, Elliot. You know I don't wanna do that."

"I'm...I-" he stopped walking and turned to her. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have snapped at you, Lily." His tone was earnest and his face begged for forgiveness.

"We're just worried about you," she told him.

"I know and it's nice. There's nothing you can do though. Just some stuff I'm working through," he explained.

"Okay. Well...if you need anything I guess..."

"I know. I've always got you guys." He smiled at Lily, but it didn't reach his eyes. Lily decided she'd let it slide for now at least.

Later that day, she was sprawled out with homework and letters to family by the Black Lake with Alice, who was reading through a book. She hit another roadblock in her Transfiguration work and tossed it aside, shutting her eyes.

"Giving up?" Alice asked peeking over her book, a teasing twinkle in her eyes.

"I'll have you know...yes. I am giving up," Lily announced which was met by laughter by Alice. "I just need a break. My eyes hurt and I just wanna enjoy this evening's nice weather." She stretched her stiff limbs and yawned. Alice shut her book and set it down next to her.

"Can I talk to you about something?" Alice's tone implied it was something she had been working up the nerve to talk to Lily about.

"Sure. What's up? Everything alright?" Lily asked sitting up.

"So...don't be mad I didn't tell you," she started avoiding eye contact with her friend.

"Alice, I'd never be mad at you for keeping things you're not ready to share," Lily assured.

"Okay. So over the summer, towards the end, I ran into Elliot at Diagon Alley. We hung out a little and I realized how much I really liked spending time just with him. Or I guess I just liked the attention from a guy one-on-one." Lily thought she saw where this was going. "And I know you two had a thing so I didn't want to make things weird, but I thought since you and Grayson were so happy..." She paused, sighing. "Anyway, we started talking and writing more and he suggested we meet for ice cream or something. I was really excited because I've never really dated and I thought it was going to work out great and all." Lily was getting confused by Alice's use of past tenses. "We spent a few weeks getting closer or I felt closer, but I noticed there was something off. After awhile, instead of getting closer, he just distanced himself and always was distracted and talking about your letters to him..." Lily definitely didn't like the direction this story was taking. "I confronted him and he told me that was still hung up on you and had feelings for you. So we didn't get into anything serious and I guess when I think about it I didn't like him all that much; but I though I should tell you. Just because he's been acting all weird now and I think that has something to do with it. I hope you're not mad."

"Merlin, Alice! Of course not! How could I ever be mad? Well I am mad, just not at you."

"Don't be mad at him!"

"You bet your arse I'm mad at him. He was using you!"

"He didn't mean to. I'm not mad at him and I don't want this to mess up our group. I just wanted to tell you."

"Well I appreciate it a lot. I'm so sorry you had to deal with that; really I am. Believe me you'll find a good guy who isn't a prick one day." Alice chuckled.

"I just wanted the attention; it wasn't him I wanted to be with or anything," Alice explained. "Honestly, I'm not bothered by it anymore. I just feel bad for him and feel like it's a bit awkward for you." Lily snorted.

"Yeah well...don't worry about me. I'll see if I am talk some sense into Elliot. Probably yell at him a little."

"I wouldn't be opposed to that," Alice trailed off.

Lily told Grayson the story the next day as he was walking her to the dungeons for her alchemy lesson.

"I mean I can't say I'm surprised, but it's still weird."

"You're telling me. I just feel bad for Alice."

"Oh absolutely," he agreed. They stopped outside of Professor William's office and turned to face each other. He kissed her forehead. "I will see you tonight, my dear."

"Sounds good," she said smiling up at him. He leaned in to peck her on the lips before letting her go and walking down the corridor.

Just as her hand was poised to knock on the door, it opened. Professor Williams appeared looking frazzled.

"Oh, Miss Potter! Is it four already?"

"Yes, sir. Do you need to reschedule?"

"No, no, no! I just have to go speak to the headmistress because one of my Slytherin's got themselves in trouble today in Defense Against the Dark Arts," he explained. "It'll just take a few minutes to decide on a detention and send a letter to his parents. You can come in, make yourself at home, go ahead and put on a pot of tea. We'll begin with our lesson for the afternoon when I get back." Before she had the chance to acknowledge what he said, he was halfway down the hall.

Lily entered the office and shut the door behind her. Being alone made his dungeon office seem so cold and quiet. She made her way over to the fireplace and stoked the fire before putting on a pot with water. She knew it would be awhile before the water was hot enough and even though he said it wouldn't take long, she knew Professor Williams would be gone for at least half an hour. She started humming to herself as she peeked through the books on his overflowing bookshelves. When she came across one she found interesting, she would pull it off the shelf and look through it. She found herself wandering deeper into his office where his desk was. He only used this corner of his office to grade papers and so she'd never actually been back here. There was another bookshelf overpacked with books. She ran her fingers across the spines of the books and watched as dust came off the books in little clouds. She chuckled because it really didn't surprise her that Professor Williams wasn't much of a cleaner. She tilted her head to the side to read a couple of the titles. Lily was so distracted by his excessive book collection, she didn't notice the portrait that hung on the other side of the room. The portrait's occupant hadn't heard the girl come in, but his attention was drawn to her as she laughed. After he recovered from the initial surprise at someone being in Professor Williams office that wasn't him, he addressed the visitor.

"What are you doing in here?" he drawled. The red-head whipped around, a startled look in her eyes. Her eyes weren't immediately drawn to the portrait as she wasn't in the habit of talking to paintings. Once she realized who had addressed her, she stepped forward.

"Sorry. I didn't realize he had a painting in here. I'm taking alchemy lessons privately with Professor Williams, but he had to run upstairs to the headmistresses office," she explained, walking through the dark room towards the portrait.

"I am aware of where he went. Why are you here?" he asked.

"He told me it was alright for me to wait here. I was curious to what books he had since he's got so many." Once she got close enough, the man felt his heart pound painfully in his chest and his breath catch in his throat. Lily noticed the change in him. "You alright, sir?" she asked with an eyebrow quirked.

"Who are you?" he question wasn't harsh, but Lily felt the power behind it.

"Lily. Lily Potter. Do I...know you?" she tilted her head to the side and but her lip. The man in the paining couldn't believe how much her little quirks and tendencies were so similar to someone he used to know so well. Before the man could answer her, the answer she was looking for dawned on her. "Oh, Merlin! Blood hell! You're Severus Snape, aren't you?" Her inquisitive eyes lit up and the corners of her mouth turned up into a small smile.

"You are the daughter of Harry Potter I take it?"

"Yeah, and my mum's Ginny Weasley. You knew my grandmother when you went to school here. And you taught both my parents in Potions. I've heard loads of stories about you. Why isn't your painting in the headmaster's office? Weren't you headmaster of Hogwarts at one point?" Her nervous rambling didn't cease and Snape was overwhelmed at the rate at which she was throwing questions at him. He never would have expected the girl to know who he was or even speak to him for that matter.

"Miss Potter," he stopped her. "I did not expect you to be aware of who I was," he admitted honestly.

"Well I sorta have to be," she said lightheartedly. "I mean the stories with you in them are crazy so I loved hearing them as a kid. That and my brother's named after you."

"He's what?"

"Yeah. I've got two brothers: James Sirius and Albus Severus." Lily couldn't tell what the man was thinking because his face was devoid of all emotion. There were a couple of beats of silence before she broke it. "You alright?"

"Your water is ready." It was only then she turned and heard the whistling of the kettle in the other room. When she looked back, Snape was gone.

"Professor Snape?" she called even though she knew if he was gone, he wouldn't be able to hear her. She moved back into the other room and fixed a pot of tea while her mind stewed over what had just happened. Moments later, Professor Williams swept back into the room, still out of breath.

"Tea ready?" he asked.

"Just finished it." He walked over to pour himself a cup then sat in his normal seat. "Professor..." Lily started as he did this. "That portrait in your office. The one of Professor Snape."

"Ah, did you encounter him while I was gone?" She nodded. "I should've warned you."

"Warned me?" She sat across from him with a cup of her own.

"Yes well I'm sure you're aware your grandparents went to school with me and him. And I'm sure you also know of the falling out your grandmother had with him and the issues your father had with him while he was at school. Well I probably should've told him you came around here often and maybe introduced the two of you. He may have been a little shocked seeing as how you look so much like your grandmother."

"Yeah something I said caused him to run off."

"I'm not surprised," Professor Williams said with a sigh. "Don't worry about it, you didn't do anything wrong. I'll have a word with him later."

"I'd sorta like to talk to him again," Lily admitted before sipping her tea.

"I'll see what I can do. Now, where did we leave off last time?"


	11. Chapter 11 – Sixth Year part 2

**Hello! Enjoy! :)**

"So anyway after that I was sure that she was just making it up. I mean she never told any of us about it and none of us remembered it therefore, it didn't happen..." Hugo had been rambling about one of his professor for the last 15 minutes. If she was being honest, Lily had stopped paying attention about 30 seconds in. She had no idea how he was still ranting about it. Grayson wasn't listening either; he was instead engrossed in some Muggle novel and playing with the ends of Lily's long, red hair.

"Are you even listening to me?" Hugo demanded. Lily looked up and saw Hugo's disgruntled face.

"Uh..."

"That's what I thought," he miffed, shoving a forkful of potatoes in his mouth.

"I'm sorry, Hu. I've just been thinking." She looked up and saw she still had his attention. "The other day in Professor William's office, I found a portrait of Snape."

"What?" Hugo replied through a mouthful of food.

"Okay, gross. But yeah I did."

"Did you talk to him?" he asked after swallowing.

"Sorta," she replied pushing around the carrots on her plate. "I tried, but he kinda ran off."

"How does a painting run away?" His question was met with a shrug. "You going to try to talk to him again."

"Hopefully next time I'm down there, yeah. Professor Williams said he'd talk to him and see what he could do."

"Who?" Grayson asked looking up.

"Nothing," Lily said, smiling up at him and squeezing his knee. He went back to his book. Lily was amazed at how oblivious he was most of the time. She looked down at the charm bracelet. Over the past few months, it had accumulated a Snitch and a lion charm to go along with the flower. He was oblivious, but he _was_ sweet.

Lily was fighting off a cold due to the rainy weather during her next alchemy lesson. She had set a Quidditch practice the previous evening and it down-poured the entire time. Somehow, no one else had managed to get sick besides Lily which was annoying her. She sneezed for what had to be the fortieth time that evening.

"Bless you!"

"Merlin, thanks," Lily sniffled and reached for her handkerchief. "Sorry I'm sneezing everywhere, Professor. I just ca-" Her apology was interrupted by another sneeze.

"Bless you," Professor Williams said through a laugh. "It's quite alright, Miss Potter. I just applaud you coming and working so well through being sick."

"Well I like these lessons and the last thing I need to do is fall behind. It's already hard enough to keep up this year."

"Perfectly understandable. Many people think sixth year is the hardest of them all." Lily nodded in agreement with this statement. "How is your year going? I know you're involved in many things."

"Yeah." Lily blew her nose. "I've got loads of classes, Quidditch Captain, so much revision..."

"Seems never-ending, doesn't it?"

"It really does some days." There were a couple minutes of comfortable silence as Lily finished what she was working on and Professor Williams flipped through a book.

"Oh, I forgot to mention it to you." Lily looked up from her work. "I spoke to Severus the other day about you and he wants you to know he's sorry for his behavior last time the two of you spoke."

"Will he speak to me again?" she asked hopefully. Professor Williams paused and didn't meet Lily's eyes for a few moments.

"The thing is..."

"He doesn't want to see me," Lily said glumly setting down her book.

"Now, Lily." Professor Williams rarely used her first name.

"No, it's fine, Professor...really," Lily insisted. "I understand why he wouldn't want to talk to me."

"Lily, maybe he'll come around. Just give it some time."

The last few months of the first term seemed to drag on forever. Lily was very pleased when December rolled around and eagerly packed her stuff up to go back home for the holidays. Once she was finished, she decided to drop off the Christmas present she had gotten for Professor Williams. She greeted other students who were bustling about getting ready to leave on her way down to the dungeons. Lily knocked on his office door and waited patiently. There was no response so she knocked again. Still nothing.

"Professor?" she called out, cracking the door open. She gingerly stepped inside and peeked around the corner, seeing nothing. She took a couple of steps inside and let the door shut behind her. Lily wandered farther back where his desk was thinking maybe he was reading or grading and hadn't heard her which had happened before. There were stacks of parchment, but no one behind it. She took the small, wrapped package from her robe pockets and set it gingerly down on the desk where he would find it. She scribbled a note on some spare parchment he had lying about wishing him a Merry Christmas.

"Do you just enter this office whenever you fancy?" A voice made Lily jump and nearly throw the quill across the room. She turned quickly to her left.

"Merlin, you startled me!" she told the painting. "I was just leaving a gift," she gestured to the small package on the table.

"For?"

"For Professor Williams." Snape quirked an eyebrow at the red-head, obviously not expecting that response. "Just to thank him for all his help in alchemy and because he's actually more like a friend. Not like weird, he's just... Well you know how he was at school with you and knew my grandmother and it's a cool connection and he's kinda like a grandfather figure to me and my mentor..." The more she rambled, the more disjointed and harder to follow her sentences became. Snape was actually pretty amused and only stopped her because he was starting to feel bad. She was shuffling nervously and turning a little pink.

"That's...kind." Lily stopped, surprised by his positive interruption. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and gently leaned against Professor Williams desk, her hands steadying her position.

"I'm sorry if I startled you the other day. I don't think I realized what meeting or even just seeing me would do to you. I would...like to talk more. If you're interested."

"What we possibly _chat_ about?" The word 'chat' seemed so foreign in his mouth.

"I dunno. Anything you wanted to really. Hogwarts, the world, anyone at school you taught you'd want to know about now," she shrugged.

"I suppose I could," he paused, "entertain you, Miss Potter." Her smile was just like her grandmother's, and while it pained him to remember those days, Snape also found it and her presence oddly comforting. "What is it that you got him?" He nodded towards the neatly wrapped present on the desk.

"Oh!" Lily slid up on the desk where she could sit comfortably. Snape was amused by her clear ease with him already. "Well my Uncle George and his son Fred run a joke shop in Diagon Alley and they are always coming out with new products and sending them to me. Professor Williams is always commenting on how neat everything is so I thought I'd give him an early release of one of their products. He'll find it hilarious, but I can't tell you what it is because I don't want you spoiling it."

"George Weasley?" Snape asked. Lily nodded. "That last thing this world needs is for him to continue releasing his mayhem." Lily's laugh filled the room and gave Snape a warm feeling inside.

"That's what Grandma Molly has said ever since he opened the shop."

"Does the other one not run it with him? The twin?"

"Uncle Fred? He was killed during the Battle of Hogwarts," Lily explained.

"I'm sorry," Snape apologized awkwardly.

"It's alright, I never got a chance to know him. Uncle George still has a pretty hard time dealing with it though. Especially in May." Lily paused and looked down at her lap. "We lost a lot of family that day. Uncle Fred, Professor Lupin, Tonks.."

"I-" Lily looked up when Snape interrupted her. There was a pregnant pause. "I am sorry," he said sincerely. "I cannot help but feel that everything, all of it, is my fault."

"Professor." Snape looked Lily in the eyes, the only part of her that didn't remind him of his Lily. "I don't blame you. No one does." They held eye contact for a few moments before breaking the tension. "I mean c'mon, my dad named my brother after you." Snape surprised Lily by chuckling at this.

"I suppose." The silence that fell this time was a comfortable one. "You should probably be going so you don't miss the train home."

"You're right," she said slipping off the desk.

"I'll tell Philip you stopped by."

"Thanks, sir." Lily headed towards the door before stopping and turning around. "Merry Christmas, Professor Snape."

"Merry Christmas, Miss Potter."

The train ride home was filled with the discussion of the ridiculous amount of detentions accumulated by Remington and Rosamund and nearly becoming sick at all the sweets consumed. They reached the station and all went home with their families. A week before Christmas, Lily and Grayson met up to exchange gifts.

"Alright don't judge because I had a lot of trouble deciding what to get you this year," Lily told him.

"I'm sure it's amazing," Grayson assured her unwrapping the neat box. Inside were a pair of gloves and a red scarf.

"So the gloves are a special dragon hide that my Uncle Charlie helped me find. He said they're great for Keepers. And the scarf is one I knitted myself. Grandma Molly taught me how and I just thought since it's kinda a tradition thing to receive handmade things in my family."

"It's perfect," he told her kissing her cheek.

"Also!" Lily pulled another box out and handed it to him. "From Grandma Molly." Grayson opened the box and found a grey-blue sweater with a 'G' knitted on it.

"I love it!" he said excitedly. "Tell your grandmother it's absolutely brilliant." He pushed two boxes over to Lily. "Here are yours." Lily unwrapped the smallest one first and found charms in the shape of a broom and fish, his favorite animal. She smiled and added them to the bracelet with the others. She moved on to the slightly larger box and pulled the ribbon off. Grayson watched eagerly and she tore the wrapping and popped open the box. It held a small vial. "It's perfume." When she removed the top, she was overwhelmed by the smell of jasmine and vanilla.

"It smells wonderful," she told him as she dabbed some on her wrists. "Thank you," she said sweetly, leaning in and kissing him.

"I love you." Lily froze when Grayson said this. She had a limited amount of time here to recover before he noticed something was wrong with her. Her mind scrambled faster than the speed of light as she tried to come up with the appropriate response. Did she love him? If she didn't, could she say that she did and still feel okay? Just as Grayson was about to question her silence, she leaned in and kissed him again. This seemed to satisfy him which relieved Lily.

Christmas was a whirlwind of presents and revising and trying to fit on some extra sleep here and there. Before she knew it, the holiday was over and she had to go back to school. NEWTs and Quidditch took up all of her time allotted and even some of her meal and sleep time. Lily pretty much looked like a zombie most of the time. Professors and fellow students constantly asked her if she was alright.

"I just feel like the work never ends and I'll never sleep ever again," Lily told Snape one evening as Professor Williams was grading papers.

"Perhaps you've taken on too much," Snape suggested.

"Don't even try to convince her _that's_ the issue," Williams inserted himself in the conversation. "I've tried that already." Lily shot him a look over her shoulder and he went back to his papers.

"I just want a full night of sleep, that's all. Or you know, a couple of consecutive hours would be nice too." She stretched and hopped from her usual place on the desk. "But I have to go. I've got Quidditch practice tonight because the House Cup is coming up."

"Tomorrow at 9?" Professor Williams checked.

"I'll be here."

The House Cup arrived and Lily found herself incredibly less stressed since it was against Ravenclaw this year instead of Slytherin. Now that her brother wasn't here going against her head-to-head, she felt much more confident.

"Team, we've got this. You lot are working so well together and I think we'll crush them," Lily said in her pre-game speech.

The team all marched onto the field and heard the thunderous noise coming from the stands. Slytherin was siding with Ravenclaw since siding with Gryffindor would never happen, so Hufflepuff would be cheering Gryffindor on. The game started normally with Lily's Chasers playing spectacularly and scoring goal after goal. Not surprisingly, they were in the lead from the very beginning. Lily had caught a few glances here and there of the Snitch but couldn't manage to keep up with it. About two hours into the game, a fight broke out down on the pitch. Lily started to fly down to see what the issue was when everything went black.

Lily groaned as she became aware of her entire body being in agonizing pain. She groaned and opened her eyes. She was met by bright lights. 'Am I dead?' she thought. 'Is this what death feels like?' Her vision cleared and she saw a white ceiling and nothing else. She turned her head and saw beds lining the wall. Once her thoughts became a little unscrambled, she deduced she was in the Hospital Wing. She groaned again and was suddenly surrounded by faces.

"Lily! You're awake!"

"Bloody hell, Lils."

"How do you feel?"

She held up her hand to stop the onslaught of questions. She slowly tried to sit up on her own but had to be assisted by someone on either side of her. She groaned for the third time as her head pounded mercilessly.

"I feel like words I won't use in the presence of innocent ears." The group surrounding her laughed. When she finally opened her eyes, she saw her Quidditch team, Alice, and the entire Ravenclaw team as well. "What happened?"

"It was a really bizarre rogue bludger," Grayson explained, sitting next to her and wrapping an arm around her waist for support.

"Like what happened two years ago to one of the Hufflepuff Beaters in the first match of the season," Hugo added. Lily nodded, remembering that incident from her fourth year.

"Merlin, I feel like I have died and then been reincarnated only to die again," she whined, letting her head fall onto Grayson's shoulder. Everyone was soon ushered out by Madame Gables so she could rest. She went back to classes the next day against all advice from the nurse and her friends. She took the next few days slowly and took a lot of naps. Now that Quidditch was over, she had more free time to work on school assignments.

"I feel like I did this wrong," Lily told Snape one night. "It should be green...not purple." Lily gagged. "Oh, Merlin. And it shouldn't smell like rotted cabbage either."

"Step aside," Snape told her examining her cauldron. "Did you stir 5 or 6 times?"

"Uhm..."

"That is an incredibly important step, Miss Potter. That is why your potion is the wrong color and smell."

"I forgot! Ever since I got clobbered on the head, I get headaches and concentrating is harder." She waved her wand and wordlessly cleaned out the black pot so the smell would stop wafting out.

"Excuses, excuses," he scoffed. "Just like your father."

"Hey!" Lily turned around, brandishing her wand and tried her best to keep the grin from her face. "Don't talk bad about my father." She stared intensely at the old Potions professor for a solid 5 seconds before the urge to smile won over and she let her wand fall to the side. "Damn right I'm just like him. And I've got my grandmother's spunk which is why you like me so much," she teased, hopping up onto the desk. Professor Williams was monitoring a detention tonight so he wasn't around. Snape usually spoke a little more freely without an extra pair of eyes and ears.

"Just like your grandmother," Snape said fondly. Spending all this time with the youngest Potter made him think about what his own kids or grandkids could have been. "It's late." He stopped his own wishful thinking. "You need to sleep. It will help the headaches."

"Looking after me as usual like I can't take care of myself or something," Lily goaded and she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Always," he whispered to himself.

"Night, Professor," Lily called as she left.

Sixth year came to a close and Lily made her first grownup decision: breaking up with Grayson Wood. It had been on her mind for months, ever since the 'I love you' debacle, and a conversation with Snape had helped her make up her mind.

"How do you know if someone isn't right for you?" she asked him suddenly one night.

"I beg your pardon?"

"This is awkward. Forget I mentioned it." Lily quickly buried her face back in her book.

"No. Explain."

"I just mean, I've been with this guy for a while and it's never felt...well I don't know how it's supposed to feel."

"I can tell you if you don't even know how to feel about him, you won't ever and you're wasting your time," he told her.

"Well that seems a bit harsh."

"Am I wrong though? Do you imagine a long-term life with him?" he asked.

"Why do I need to be thinking long-term? I'm still young."

"That is another good sign that it isn't right."

"But maybe I just am stressed and with the-"

"If you blame your dissatisfaction in your relationship on your head injury, so help me... Listen you asked for my opinion and I'm giving it. You have obviously not been completely happy all along. And that is a good indication that he isn't right for you," he advised.

That conversation had circulated in her mind for weeks; so one day, she asked Grayson to meet her at The Leaky Cauldron for lunch so she could get it over with and it would stop looming in her thoughts.

"Hey, gorgeous." Lily was pulled from her thoughts by Grayson's arrival. His cheeked her cheek and Lily smiled awkwardly at him. She watched as he sat in the chair across from her and folded his hands on the table. "So what's up?" Lily paused trying to think of how to word it.

"I think we should break up. Dammit that was supposed to be smoother," Lily swore under breath. "Anyway, yeah. I've been thinking about this for a while and I just...well you told me you loved me, and I couldn't say it back."

"If it was too soon, I'm sorry."

"No, no. It wasn't. It was fine. If our relationship was...normal? I guess?" her explanation was choppy and awkward. "I like you a lot. I really honestly did like being in a relationship with you, but I feel like if we go on any longer, I'll just be leading you on."

"Maybe you're just-"

"Gray," Lily stopped him from arguing anymore. "I love you deeply. Just not in the same way you love me. I'm so, so sorry." They sat in quiet for a while and Lily was afraid she had screwed up more than their relationship.

"I can't be your friend for a while," Grayson told her. "I'm not saying forever!" he quickly added once he saw her panicked face. "I just...I need some time away from this because it's gonna hurt a little. We probably shouldn't see any of each other over the summer, but I'm going to try to be okay with it come fall term. I don't want this to ruin our friendship group during our last year at Hogwarts together. Don't get me wrong I am mad. Well not mad, but...sad. I really do love you, Lily," he said sincerely. "I really, really do. But we can't just throw away our years and years of friendship."

"I'm so sorry, Gray. I feel absolutely dreadful about all of this-"

"Lily, I'm glad you told me now before things got more serious like I wanted it to." The conversation fell into another lull. It wasn't like the comfortable quiets they had gotten used to. It was awkward and tense and Lily did not like it.

"I should probably go," Lily said standing up. Grayson stood up quickly as well and stepped away from his chair.

"Would you mind...uhm...what I mean to say is...could I just?" Grayson shuffled his feet and cleared his throat. "May I just kiss you? One last time? Please?" The look in his eyes broke Lily's heart as she swallowed and nodded. He stepped closer to her and placed the gentlest kiss on her lips. "Bye, Lily," he whispered as he pulled away.

When she got home, Lily went upstairs to her room and cried for an hour. She felt awful about the whole situation and felt like a horrible human for breaking Grayson's heart like she did. She wrote Alice and Avery about what had happened figuring Grayson would tell Hugo and Elliot. Both girls responded immediately asking if they could come over. Thirty minutes later, the three of them were sitting on Lily's bed eating licorice wands, her favorite sweet.

"How do you feel about it?" Avery asked as she picked up another candy.

"I feel fine I guess. Just bad for Grayson." The other two nodded.

"What brought it on? Did you two fight?" Alice asked.

"No. It just...didn't feel right anymore."

"Makes sense."

"Is it because you like someone else, maybe?" Alice asked, tilting her head to the side at the thought.

"Merlin, Ally! No!"

"Well maybe like... unconsciously you do."

"On who? She never hangs out with anyone besides Grayson. And her cousin but that would be weird."

"Ew! Avery, you sicko!" Lily shrieked through laughter tossing a pillow at her.

"Don't worry. You'll find someone someday," Alice assured her.

"Bloody hell I'm not worried about it. If it happens, it happens," she said shrugging.

Avery and Alice ended up spending the night at the Potters and the girls were up till two in the morning just enjoying each others company. Lily wanted to cherish the free time she had with them since so little left. After their seventh year, they would have to chose careers and work at those and wouldn't have lazy Sunday afternoons together anymore. The three of them spent almost every day together enjoying the last free summer they would ever have.


	12. Chapter 12 – Ending of an Era

**Hiya! I apologize for taking so long. I wrote this chapter and hated it, so I scrapped it and started over. Then I had massive trouble posting this chapter. Everything is just a mess. But here it is! As always thanks for the reviews and all the positive feedback; I love it all! Enjoy! :)**

"Didja see the Daily Prophet today?" James asked his siblings from his position lying on the couch. The three of them were sat in the parlour of the Potter household one Sunday afternoon after a family brunch. Harry and Ginny were in the kitchen with Teddy and Victoire discussing some home renovation ideas. Albus was stretched across the floor reading through an Auror manual handed down to him by James. He had just finished his first year of training while James was going to be in his final year of it. Lily was sitting sideways on her favorite armchair reading a Muggle book lent to her from James' friend and former Gryffindor beater, Jackson Holmes.

"No. Why? S'it important?" Albus asked without looking up.

"Is it ever?" The three of them shared a laugh. "Just ridiculous who they think will win the World Cup this year," James told them gazing up at the moving words and pictures.

"They're always wrong," Lily said turning the page.

"That's true." James folded the paper and set it on coffee table. He sat up and stretched while letting out a long yawn. He gazed outside at the beautiful summer day and stood up. "Up for a fly?" he asked his siblings.

"Why?" Albus asked.

"Just cause we can," James said shrugging.

"I'm game." Lily stood up and tossed the book onto the chair she had been occupying. "C'mon, Al." Lily nudged her brother with her foot and headed to the cupboard in the hall where they all kept their brooms. She pulled all three out, tossing James' to him and Albus' on top of him.

"Hey!"

"Last one out is a Crumple-Horned Snorkack!" James shouted, racing for the back door. Lily was right on his tail as they sped through the kitchen shouting apologies at their father who they nearly knocked over in the process. They both reached the backyard way before Albus.

"Slow-poke!" Lily goaded as she mounted her broom.

"I'll make you eat your words," Albus challenged as he joined the other two in the sky.

The three of them flew around the yard, occasionally bringing a Quaffle into the mix, until the sun set, making it too dark to play anymore. Harry and Ginny had watched them for a little while.

"Just like old times," Harry told his wife as they went back into the house.

The next day, Albus and James were back at work and Lily was at home getting ready for her last year of Hogwarts which was coming up next week. The time came and she boarded the train, a little nervous at seeing Grayson again. They hadn't spoken since the breakup at the beginning of the summer and Hugo had told Lily it was hard on him but he was doing alright. She entered an empty train compartment with Hugo and sat. Needless to say, waiting was painful. She had no idea how Grayson would react being around her.

"I feel sick," she groaned to her cousin.

"Honestly I think it'll be fine, Red," Hugo reassured his cousin. She was sitting by the window staring at the people on the platform and Hugo was sat next to her with a lanky arm slung around her shoulders. Her ruffled her hair when she didn't respond. "Really, Lily. I spent a lot of the summer with him and I think he's over you."

"I hope so," she muttered.

The compartment door opened and Lily turned with a panicked face towards it. She saw Avery and Elliot come in and sit across from her and Hugo.

"Alright, Lily?" Avery asked when she saw the girl was quite paler than normal.

"M'fine," she muttered unconvincingly. Avery snorted.

"Sure you are."

The compartment door opened again and Alice collapsed in the seat next to Hugo.

"Merlin, I surely thought I'd miss the train this year."

"You say that every year," Hugo chuckled as he stood to reach the overheard compartments. He fiddled around with something for a moment before sitting back down with Lily's small cat in his lap. "Figured she was getting cramped." He told Lily as he stroked the car behind her ears, eliciting a purr from the animal. Ever since first year, Hugo had been rather attached to the cat and Lily would often let Olivia sleep up in the boys' dorm with Hugo. Olivia let Hugo give her some attention before sensing Lily's stress and crawling over to the red-head. The train began to pull away from the station and still no sign of Grayson.

"Would he really just not sit with us?" Alice huffed after a few moments of silence. Right as she said it, the door opened once again and Grayson stepped inside.

"Where've you been, mate?" Hugo asked curiously.

"My mum wasn't feeling well this morning which left getting everything together and to the station up to me and my dad which is never a good idea. Add a disorganized, little sister to the mix and well long story short, we barely made it in time," he explained sitting down next to Elliot.

"Honestly I'm not even surprised," Hugo chuckled.

The tension was palpable for a few minutes as everyone tried to assess the situation and figure out where the friend group would go from here.

"Lily, how was your birthday?" Elliot asked. Lily's birthday fell in the summer which meant she didn't get to spend it with all of her friends most of the time.

"Uhm, it was great," Lily fumbled awkwardly with her words, keeping watch on Grayson out of the corner of her eye. "Me, Avery, Alice, and Rose went over to Paris with Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill for a few days."

The conversation flowed freely after that and they reached Hogwarts before they knew it. They were all still at ease as they got in a carriage and headed to the castle. As they approached the Great Hall, Avery and Alice headed to their own House tables add left the four Gryffindors. Grayson shuffled a bit and seemed to hang back on purpose. Lily and Hugo both caught this and after a silent conversation with eye contact, Hugo nodded and headed inside, dragging a confused Elliot with him.

"Hey," he said awkwardly.

"Hey," Lily responded with a small smile. She bit her and shoved her hands in her robe's oversized pockets. They stood in silence as they watched students continue to file into the Great Hall. Grayson sensed that trying to talk amidst a sea of people wasn't ideal and pulled Lily to one side of the door.

"So," he started.

"So," she repeated expectantly.

"Yeah," Grayson said chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "So I've missed you. Oh, Merlin. That's a horrible place to start. I'm not trying to get back together with you I swear! But I did miss you this summer...as a friend." He focused his gaze anywhere but Lily. "And I was wondering if we were still good to be friends this year. Because I want to. Be friends that is."

"Or course we can," Lily assured him reaching out and squeezing his arm. He met her eyes and breathed a visible sigh of relief.

"I can't tell you how worried I've been about this conversation. I've been practicing," he admitted, turning alight shade of pink. "Don't get me wrong, I still like you a little more than I should. But I think I've made a lot of progress over the summer. I even flirted with a girl the other day. Oh, bullocks I shouldn't be telling you that. It's weird."

"Grayson, it's fine! Really," Lily insisted trying to hold back her giggles. She'd always find him unbelievably adorable no matter what. "I'm gonna need you by my side if we're gonna kick some ass in Quidditch this year."

"We're gonna sweep the Cup for sure," he told her with a broad grin. She laughed and the two of them headed into the feast where they sat across from each other, just like old times.

Lily was actually excited to get back into the swing of things and especially eager to get back to the dungeons to her Alchemy lessons. A few days into term, she made her way down to meet Professor Williams for their first lesson back. She knocked gingerly on the door and was immediately instructed to come in. She opened the door and saw the Potions professor flipping through a book while balancing another few in his arms.

"Miss. Potter!" he said cheerily. "How nice to see you again, dear." He set the books down and ushered her into the room. He handed her a beaten up book.

"Gee thanks, Professor," she said sarcastically, the corners of her mouth upturning slightly.

"It's your Alchemy book for this year," he explained shooting her a look that told her not to give him an attitude this early in the year. "There aren't many copies of these books nowadays because people don't have that much of an interest in alchemy anymore." He watched her carefully flip through the book, trying not to damage any of the delicate pages. "I suppose you'll want to speak to Severus?" Lily looked up eagerly then tried to play it cool.

"If he's around." She shrugged nonchalantly. Professor Williams chuckled and Lily followed him into his office.

"Well, well, well...look who's back," drawled a voice from the darkest corner of the room.

"Nice to see you too, sir." Lily held her new book tightly to her chest and took her normal place leaned up against the desk. Lily stayed down chatting with the professors for a while before heading back to her dorm to sleep before Quidditch practice the next morning. She was determined to win this year after last year's disaster of her getting hit by a rogue Bludger.

Once Lily got back into everything, she realized how rapidly this year was going to pass and how quickly her school journey was going to be over. She pushed those negative thoughts aside and focused on making her last year at Hogwarts the best one she could have.

The Quidditch matches were going in Gryffindor's favour from the start. Lily originally was concerned the dynamic of the team may be thrown off, but she was thankfully wrong. The team, in fact, was playing arguably better than ever. Lily figured it was due to the fact that so many of them were in their last year and wanted to go out with a bang.

Her classes and Alchemy lessons continued decently as well and Lily was confident she would have no trouble getting into Auror training at the Ministry. She spent a bit more time with Snape this year as it would be the last few months she would be able to converse with him.

"Wait...what I meant to do now?" Lily halted her progress and turned to look up at Professor Williams with a panicked look in her eyes. It was nearing Christmas and Lily was bundled up in multiple sweaters as the dungeons got particularly cold this time of year.

"Well what did you do last?" Professor Williams walked over to the floorspace where Lily was sitting crosslegged working. She juggled through the books she was surrounded by and frowned. Both professors heard her utter a strand of profanities under her breath as she tossed one book aside and picked up another. "I have a feeling you're a bit lost." Professor Williams crouched down next to her and took the book from her. Lily sighed and let her head fall. "It's alright," he assured her. "Just try again."

The inevitability of her impending graduation really hit Lily during the Christmas holidays. Her brothers were hardly around as they didn't have breaks as long as she did and she realized soon that would be her too. As long as she finished strong.

One chilly afternoon, Lily sat at home alone, wrapped in a couple of blankets in her favourite chair. She had received another stack of books from Jackson who had been hanging around the Potter household more than usual. She had read _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ and just finished _The Great Gatsby_. She had now moved on the Sherlock Holmes, Jackson's favourite. Lily was so engrossed in "A Study in Scarlet," she didn't hear the front door open and people enter the house.

"Mum?" Albus called as he entered the house. Scorpius followed, shutting the door behind him. "She must be at work, but Lily should be around here somewhere." Albus jogged up the stairs while his friend meandered into the parlour to seek the fireplace's warmth. He noticed Lily's bright, red hair splayed across the back of an armchair and it was obvious she hadn't noticed their arrival. He stepped into the room and noticed the stack of book on the table. His grey eyes scanned the titles and he figured out pretty quickly they were Muggle novels. He picked up one called _Little Women_ and thumbed through the pages. He heard Albus thudding down the stairs.

"In here, Al," Scorpius called. Lily's head jerked up from her book upon hearing a voice in the same room as her. She placed her finger in her book to hold its place and turned around in her chair. Albus joined the two in the room.

"Hi," Lily greeted Albus, with a hint of surprise in her voice. She noticed the tall, blonde in the room with them. "Oh, hello." She stood up from her seat and placed the book on the table. Scorpius tilted his head to read its' title as he set _Little Women_ back down. "Why are you here?" she asked.

"Merlin, Lils. Thought you'd be happy to see me and welcome the company since you've been alone so much."

"I didn't mean it like...you are normally...don't you have work?"

"We did, but we have the afternoon off. I wanted to stop by and talk to mum, but it looks like she's at the office today."

"Yeah. Well, I assume she is. Everyone had left the house by the time I got up this morning," she explained, tightening the blanket that was wrapped around her shoulders.

"And you've been...reading?" Albus asked, approaching her stack of books. Lily nodded. "What are these?"

"Muggle books." Lily shrugged as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"From where?"

"Jackson." When Albus showed no visible sign of knowing who she was talking about, she explained further. "James' friend."

"James' friend?" The tone of Albus' voice had changed quite a bit and he lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah...?"

"Speaking of Jackson, he's been around here a lot lately," Albus folded his arms.

"Very astute. Now I see why you're in the Auror program; you're bloody brilliant." Lily sat back down in her chair and picked her book up.

"Tell me, Scorpius."

"Oh, don't drag me into this," Scorpius begged.

"Why would James' friend be stopping by the house so much? Especially now that James lives in a flat elsewhere."

"Well, you wouldn't know he does. He practically lived here." Lily didn't even look up from her book to respond.

"Seems more likely he's coming over here to spend time with another Potter," Albus continued.

"Bugger off, Al. That's ridiculous."

"Is it? Or have a hit a nerve?" Lily spun around in her seat and shot her brother a dark scowl that made him step back. She inherited her fear-inducing gazes from their mother and they were the only two women with the ability to strike fear in the Potter men.

"I suggest you stop insinuating what you're insinuating and get on with your business, Albus," she growled before turning back in her seat and angrily opening her book.

"Al," Scorpius hissed a warning at his friend who held his hand up in acknowledgement. The two of them left the room to wait in another part of the house for Ginny to return home.

Christmas was different that year. All of the married and dating cousins went of on a holiday together, Percy and Audrey and Bill and Fleur were visiting the ladies' families that year, and last minute, Albus told his parents he would be spending Christmas with the Malfoys. There were only 15 family members for Christmas that year as opposed to the 25 they usually had. Needless to say, now that they all had grown and the numbers were decreased that year, the whole affair was much quieter than usual. Lily never thought she would admit it, but she missed the insanity.

Her and Hugo returned to school for their last few months. They found a somber atmosphere enveloped the seventh years as they began to accept that the end was drawing near. There wasn't much time to be sad, however. Their NEWT revisions took up most of their time and any "free" time the Quidditch teams had was spent practicing.

One Saturday morning, Lily sat crosslegged atop Professor Williams' desk reading another Muggle book. She was crunching on an apple as Olivia napped in her lap. She chuckled at something and turned the page.

"It just occurred to me, Miss Potter..." Lily looked over at the portrait she was visiting. "I never inquired what your plans are after Hogwarts. Seeing as how you are almost done, seems like an apt time to find out."

"As long as everything goes as planned, I want to work in the Auror department."

"Something your father was interested in, if I'm not mistaken."

"He runs the department now," Lily told him proudly. "I know tons of people in the department actually: my Uncle Ron, James, Teddy, my cousin Louis, Albus, and his mate from school."

"Albus is the one sorted into Slytherin?" Lily nodded. "Who is his friend? Anyone I would know?" Lily hesitated and Snape noticed this.

"Scorpius Malfoy." His name seemed so foreign on her tongue. She didn't recall a time before now that she had used his first name. "Draco Malfoy's son," she added even though she figured it was unnecessary. She was trying to cover up her awkward fumbling of his name.

"Malfoy." Snape repeated. It wasn't a question. "Your brother made friends with a member of a well-known pureblood family?"

"Mmhmm."

"How did that go over?" Snape pried.

"Uhm." Lily set her book on her knee and bit her lip. "Well it's f-fine now...mostly."

"Mostly?"

"Mostly." Lily looked away from the former professor, finding the situation very uncomfortable. She hoped he didn't press the issue any further, but knew he would.

"And," Snape paused. He knew this Lily had inherited his Lily's terrifying temper and the last thing he wanted to do was fuel the fire. "How do _you_ feel about it all?" There was a long silence and Snape was beginning to think Lily was not going to answer him.

"I'm afraid I'm about to sound terribly hypocritical, professor," Lily said meekly.

"You're not a fan of him, are you?" She shook her head. "Because of his House status and family history?" Lily nodded.

"But here I am with you."

"Yes, here you are with me." He was silent for a few moments, mulling over what he would say to her. "Miss, Potter," he started. "For so many years, prejudice has driven its way into the hearts of not only the students here, but wizards everywhere. People think that blood status or House status means something. They think these things make them better than everyone else. That's what led the Dark Lord to do what he did. But his prejudices and his arrogance are what ultimately destroyed him. Society has changed quite a lot since his fall, but there is still the petty quibbles amongst those who attend Hogwarts. Understand, I am not lecturing you. Nor am I telling you what is right or wrong. I'm merely asking you to think, Miss. Potter."

Lily found herself unable to face the former Potions professor for a few days after their conversation. She wasn't mad at him, but she felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt. At the same time, her Gryffindor pride was trying to convince her she was right. The next time she was back in the dungeons, Snape was acting as if they had never had the conversation at all.

About a month before the end of term and a week before the Quidditch House Cup, Lily was walking through the corridors to the Gryffindor Common Room reading a letter from Teddy. He was gushing about his most recent job assignment in Austria and how much he thought she would enjoy visiting the country one day. She turned the letter and saw a little, sideways note written in Victoire's curly handwriting. She smiled at her cousins's goofy joke and flipped the letter over to finish reading what Teddy had written. She was so out of touch with her surroundings, she ran into someone as she turned a corner. She started to make a hasty apology, but stopped once she saw who it was.

"Well hi there, stranger!" Lily said brightly. She couldn't help the goofy grin that slipped onto her face.

"I'm sorry. Do I know you?" Mischievous green eyes met her deep brown ones.

"Oh, my mistake! I thought you were the hero of the wizarding world, but now I see you're much older than he is."

"Excuse me!" Lily laughed at her father's incredulous face and wrapped her arms around his neck in a tight hug. "Hullo, dad."

"Hi, bean."

"What're you doing here? Finally decided to finish your education?" Her father set her down and shot her a look. "Kidding," she squeaked sheepishly, forcing away the giggles.

"I'll have you know, I became head of the Auror department without graduating Hogwarts," he boasted.

"Which begs the question, does being an Auror even require an education?"

"Yes, young lady, it does!" Harry insisted as they began to walk in the direction of the Common Room. "We have revamped the program tremendously since I trained. I doubt I would make it through the first year now. It takes the toughest and smartest to make it all three years."

"So...how did Jamie make it this far?" Rather than lecture her on being nice to her brother, Harry shrugged.

"Sometimes the lucky ones make it too." He smiled and Lily noticed that mischievous glint was back. She laughed and took his arm in hers as they strolled casually through the halls.

"You never told me why you were here."

"Just had to see the headmistress about something. You know...top secret Auror stuff." Lily rolled here eyes and let go of his arm as they approached the portrait of the fat lady.

"Whatever," she brushed off. "I'll be privy to that information soon enough."

"As long as you pass your NEWTs."

"Which I will. I'll pass with flying colours!"

"I'm sure you will," Harry said with a chuckle. "Now, give this strange, old man a hug before he heads home."

"You sure you don't need an escort?" Lily asked hugging him.

"Watch it," Harry warned, but his eyes glinted with unreleased laughter. "Love you, bug."

"Love you, too, dad."

The Quidditch House Cup had arrived and Lily sat at the breakfast table with her team. All of them stared at the food in front of them, but no one touched any of it. Elliot had even turned a light shade of green. It was the last match ever for Lily, Hugo, Grayson, and Elliot and the other three team members felt an enormous weight to help them go out with a bang. After a number of injuries on the Slytherin and Ravenclaw teams, and what could only be described as a miracle, Hufflepuff was in the final match against Gryffindor. They were a worthy opponent this year, but everyone knew Gryffindor would blow them out of the water if they played to the best of their abilities. As they walked down to the changing rooms, Lily realized she wasn't as much nervous as she was sad. This was going to be her last Quidditch match possibly ever. She would of course fool around on a broom in the backyard with her family, but she would never have a season like this again. After a rousing, inspirational speech to her team, she sent them off. She grabbed her broom and took a deep breath before turning to head onto the field. Lily turned and saw the other seventh years waiting for her.

"Ready, Captain?" Grayson asked. It was obvious she wasn't the only nostalgic one based on the looks on their faces.

"Let's do this."

Gryffindor won by an incredible 570 point margin: the biggest one in Hogwarts history. Hufflepuff had only managed to score a single goal on Grayson and that was only because he sneezed as they shot the Quaffle his way. Once Lily caught the Snitch, the crowd erupted in cheers. Gryffindor and Ravenclaw because their side had won, and everyone else because the match was finally over. Lily landed and headed straight for her Chasers.

"You lot were brilliant!" she screamed, nearly tackling the smaller girls. They laughed and returned the hug quickly so she could hug her cousin. "We did it," she said simply extending her arms.

"Yes we did, little red." Hugo wrapped his favourite cousin in a tight hug.

After the rush of winning, the seventh years had to turn their attention to finishing revisions in preparation for their exams. One afternoon a few days before the first exam, the six friends sat by the Black Lake surrounded by books and parchment.

"I'm convinced any more studying will _not_ help," Lily insisted, rolling over from her back onto her stomach.

"Well that's fine and dandy for you, Lily, but some of us aren't naturally smart." Hugo had a scowl etched onto his face and was surrounded by broken quills which had been the victims of his frustration.

"Shove off, ya git." Lily's response was muffled by the grass that her face was buried in. Hugo chucked a ball of parchment at his cousin which was intercepted by Grayson who didn't even look up from his book.

"Force of habit." he shrugged. When he looked up at Hugo, he had a smirk on his face. His loyalties would always be with Lily who had become more like family to him in the past year. He had even started asking her advice on other girls which thrilled the Potter girl.

"At this point, I can't even be nostalgic. I just want it all to end so I can know what it's like to sleep again," Avery complained, letting herself fall back to lay next to Lily. She stretched out her limbs and released a long yawn. She readjusted her body to rest her head on Lily's back.

"Things won't be the same, though," Alice muttered. Lily lifted her face to look at her friend, careful not to topple over Avery.

"Things will change, but _we_ wont."

"She's right," Grayson agreed. "And it'll be fun for all of us to go off on the next adventures of our lives. Speaking of which, I should probably tell you all that I've been officially recruited to the Chudley Cannons."

"You what?!" Lily shot up from her spot, no longer caring about keeping herself stable for Avery who went flying. "When? How? Why?" Lily scrambled over to where Grayson was and practically knocked him over in her eagerness to find out all about his future, Quidditch endeavors. She bombarded him with questions for the rest of the afternoon and no one was able to concentrate by that point.

"WE'RE DONE!" Hugo screamed at the top of his lungs as he burst dramatically from the main doors of the castle. He took off at a sprint towards who knows where with Elliot right on his heels. "I'M FREE!" The other four heard Hugo repeat this over and over again before tripping over his own feet and falling flat on his face.

"Hugo, you git!" Lily took off after the two of them fully prepared to be mending a broken nose once she reached him. Avery laughed loudly and unsympathetically as she followed.

"Lily was right." Alice looked up to meet Grayson's icy, blue eyes. She couldn't recall a time before this when they had spoken just the two of them. "We'll all still stay the same." Grayson shoved his hands in his pockets and started to walk over to where Lily was now yelling something to Hugo who had both his hands covering his face and was shaking his head furiously. Alice watched her friends with a small smile. All six of them would be taking different paths now, but their bonds would only grow stronger. She headed towards her friends after a moment lost in her thoughts. Avery was complaining about Hugo's blood being everywhere now while Grayson and Lily were trying to remember the best spell to remove it.

The morning of graduation, Lily sat waiting for her cousin to finish packing before they headed down to see their family before the ceremony. She was dressed in a bright, yellow dress with a flowery pattern stitched into it and her Gryffindor, dress robes over it. On her feet were white, ballet flats that were tied in a perfect bow around her ankles. She looked up when she heard someone coming down the stairs, but sighed when it was only Grayson.

"Nice to see you too, bright eyes." His feigned a hurt tone of voice. He picked up a stack of school books on the table in front of the fireplace and tucked them under his arm.

"I'm just waiting on Hugo so we can go down and make our family rounds before the ceremony and stuff. It's always hard to meet up with your family once the madness begins," she sighed, flopping sideways on the couch.

"Very ladylike." Lily stuck her tongue out at Grayson. "As was that," he chuckled. "Hugo is only about halfway done with packing-" He was interrupted by a loud groan.

"That's it." Lily stood up and straightened herself out. "He'll find his own way down. Tell him I left without him." She didn't wait for his response and marched from the Common Room to the halls. She realized once she was halfway down the corridor her dramatic exit was merely a statement on Hugo being late all the time. She should've just waited because there was still a while before the ceremony would start. Lily sighed and slowed her pace thinking of what she could do to kill time. Her face brightened once she came up with an idea.

"Just a moment!" Lily's knock on Professor Williams' was met with a crash and his harried shout. The doors swung open and the scowl on his face was replaced by a broad smile when he saw his favourite student. "Miss. Potter! I was hoping you'd stop by. Come in, please." He stepped aside and let the soon to be graduate enter his office for the last time. She took a deep breath and let her eyes trail across the room she had come to know so well. "I wasn't the only one who was hoping to see you again." Professor Williams hung back as Lily headed towards the portrait.

"Miss. Potter," drawled an unenthusiastic tone. "Shouldn't you be graduating or something?"

"I just couldn't resist bothering you one last time, sir," she answered with a smirk.

"Insufferable, just like your father." Lily chuckled and crossed her arms awkwardly. How exactly did one say goodbye to a painting?

"I guess I should thank you...for all your help in Potions."

"I couldn't just stand by and watch you fail." Lily rolled her eyes. "It was pretty remarkable watching your progress in Alchemy," he admitted. Lily was sure this is the first time he came anywhere close to complimenting her.

"Uh, t-thanks," she stuttered. She bit her lip and focused her eyes on her shoes, unsure how to proceed with the conversation.

Professor Williams eavesdropped for the first few minutes of their conversation before returning to his own business. He was humming an old song to himself and dusting off some books when his attention was drawn to raised voices. He started towards to commotion, but was nearly knocked over by Lily. The look on her face was frazzled and she was slightly out of breath. "Miss-"

"I have to go. I'll see you at the ceremony," Lily blurted as she ran from his office. Professor Williams barely had time to register what she was doing and was only brought from his reverie when the door slammed behind Lily. He turned on his heel and marched towards the painting.

"What did you say to her?" he demanded of the man. "Why on earth did she go tearing from my office like that?"

"It does not concern you," Snape hissed back, his icy eyes glazed over.

"Like he-" Professor Williams wasn't able to question Snape anymore as he slid from his portrait, leaving the professor alone and confused.

Meanwhile, Lily swallowed the urge to cry as she rushed up the stair away from the dungeons knowing she'd never have to return ever again. She slowed her pace and tried to catch her breath and settle herself. She didn't want to meet up with her family only to be bombarded by questions about what was wrong. 'Why did I even bother talking to him in the first place?' She thought as she hung her head. 'He's such an arrogant, narrow-minded, conceited-'

"Lily!" She looked up and was met by the comforting sight of Teddy. "Heya, kid. We were beginning to wonder where you and Hugo were."

"Hugo is still packing and I just...had an errand to run."

"Figures," Teddy snorted. "Hugo will never be ready for anything on time." He slung a gangly arm around the small Potter and they headed outside to meet up with everyone.

Lily was fawned over by everyone. Every single member of the family had come out to see the last of this generation of the Potter-Weasley family graduate. It was quite a sight for onlookers, seeing as how when you added in those who married into the family and those soon to marry into the family, the numbers grew even more. So many of the family was overcome with emotions. Her grandmother was crying, her mother was crying, her Aunt Hermione was crying, Victoire was crying for some reason. Needless to say, she was relieved when Hugo made his way down so some of the attention now fell on him. Lily felt as if she was being pulled every direction all at once and fought hard to keep a smile on her face. She was still trying to recover from the harsh words that had been spat at her a little while before. Lily only managed to exchange words with about half of her family members before she had to take her seat for the ceremony. She promised to return once it was all over and headed towards her seat.

She scanned her fellow seventh years as the Headmistress made her speech. The moment seemed so surreal. She waited for eleven years to come to this school and it seemed as if it was over in a heartbeat. She smiled as she recalled all of the memories she had here. Her eyes stopped on Alice and she thought about how they holed themselves up in Lily's room and would spend hours talking about all they planned to do once they finally got to Hogwarts. Lily smiled when she noticed the silent tears that slid down Alice's face. She turned slightly to see Elliot who had already zoned out and wad fighting back a yawn. Looking at him brought back memories of their awkward days dating and how he was always there to defend Lily no matter what. She found Avery next who was, as usual, listening attentively. Avery understood her like no one else did. She was one of the most caring people Lily had ever met and one day, Lily hoped Hugo would finally get his stuff together and ask the Ravenclaw out. Grayson was a couple seats away from Lily and was the only one to catch her eyes. He smiled warmly at her before turning back to face forward. Honestly, Lily couldn't have asked for a better boyfriend with him. He was the closest thing to perfect she had ever met and she hoped he would find someone who appreciated him like she never could bring herself to. Finally, her eyes located her cousin. Hugo was her sidekick, her right-hand man, her partner in crime. Being the youngest two of the family formed a bond between the two of them early on. It was like they were built-in best friends for one another since birth. This next year would be the first year they were truly apart. Sure they had taken some different class at school, but they always had meals, Quidditch, and time in the Common Room together. Knowing she probably wouldn't see him every single day anymore hurt a lot. Now she understood why there were so many tears being shed today. Lily refocused her attention on the ceremony, but it came to a close too swiftly for Lily's liking, much like her Hogwarts' days.

Lily spent the next few minutes hugging fellow seventh years before heading back over to where she knew her large family would be waiting and eager to see her. On her way over, she was intercepted.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me what he said to you."

"You know me too well." Lily gave Professor Williams a half-hearted smile and crossed her arms. "Anyway it doesn't matter. I'm off now, aren't I?"

"Yes you are." They stood in silence for a moment. "It truly has been a pleasure teaching you, Miss. Potter. At first, it was like reliving my years here seeing as how you're so much like your grandmother. But you are so different as well and I consider you more as a friend than a pupil." Lily couldn't help slamming into the older man and hugging him with all her might.

"Thank you," she told him, "for everything, professor." She let him go and gave him a genuine smile.

"Stop by anytime you like. I really would love to see you again."

"I promise." Lily left the professor to speak to other students and slowly made her way over to her family. James was the first to wrap in a a hug and lift her from the ground. "Oi! Put me down, ya git! I'm in a dress," she reminded him. He set her down and ruffled her long hair.

"Congrats, kiddo. You'll get to join me now, won't you?" he asked.

"As long as my exam results come in alright."

"Pfft. As if you'd ever fail anything, flower." James shifted his eyes nervously to the side and cleared him throat awkwardly. "Uhm, yeah so...okay." He turned and walked away, but not before Lily noticed a pained look on his face. She turned to see what had sent him off and was surprised to see it was only Jackson.

"Hey!" she greeted, surprised he had come.

"Hi!" His enthusiasm did not go unnoticed and sent a red flag through Lily's mind, although she wasn't sure why. "So I sent some new books over to you house for when you get home!" he told her excitedly.

"Good. I really enjoy your recommendations." Jackson turned pink at her compliment and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Heh...thanks. I like sending books over for you to try."

'Oh bullocks,' she thought. 'He does have a thing for me. What do I do?' she panicked inwardly. 'I need an out. Someone help.' She looked around to who she could shoot a look to for rescue. Her eyes locked with Hugo who smiled at her. She widened her eyes and tilted her head to the side. He only raised an eyebrow at her. Lily set her mouth into a firm line and squinted her eyes. Hugo's face went completely blank and he held out his hands as if to say 'what do you want?' Thankfully Jackson was too busy muttering something about the books her dropped by her house to notice her and Hugo's exchange. Avery, however, had. She looked between the two and managed to gather what Lily wanted. She sped walked over to the desperate girl.

"Hey, mind if I steal her away?" Avery asked sweetly.

"Oh! Uhm." Before Jackson had a chance to respond, Avery had pulled Lily far away from the smitten boy.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou," Lily rambled at her friend. "Jackson was weirding me out. He's getting all...eh."

"All eh? I hate it when people are like that," Avery chuckled.

"He likes me I think," Lily bemoaned. Avery let out a huge laugh, doubling over. When she straightened up, Lily saw tears had begun to form in her eyes from laughing so hard.

"Only your luck." Avery slung an arm over her friends shoulder as they walked off to their families.

Lily's trunk was on the train. Olivia was in her crate on the train as well. All of her belongings were packed up and nothing remained in her dormitory. She sighed deeply and bit her lip, gazing around the bare room. This was the end of an incredible journey, but soon she would be starting the next amazing chapter of her life.


	13. Chapter 13 - Going Forward

**Excuse me as I BEG FOR FORGIVENESS! It has been months and I didn't intend for it to take this long for me to update, but lots of life got in the way and I found myself losing motivation. But I have come back from the dead and I hope you lot enjoy! :)**

When the NEWT results came in, Lily was more than pleased. It was assured she would have no trouble getting into the Auror program. Hugo decided upon his results, he would be seeking to join the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad, Alice had chosen to be a welcome-witch at St. Mungo's, and Avery had chosen to work for the office of the Minister of Magic. Elliot's scores were less than satisfactory and he thought it best to take the next year to travel and figure out what he wanted with his life.

The next piece of good news for the Potter-Weasley family came when Victoire announced she was three months pregnant. The entire family had been absolutely ecstatic at the news and half of the women immediately broke down into tears. Teddy announced that he would be leaving active duty as an Auror and instead be working in Auror training, which meant he would be overseeing Lily for the next three years. He figured this would be the best course of action so he could still do the job he loved without putting himself in high-risk situations now that he was a family man.

Lily had been stealthily avoiding Jackson for weeks once James told her he was definitely trying to ask her out. She begged and pleaded with James to tell him politely to "back the hell away." He did, but Lily had a feeling he was itching to deliver that message to his friend. That summer, Lily also discovered she would be the only one living at home. Albus, much to Lily's chagrin, had now taken a flat with Scorpius. The boys still came around for dinner though, sometimes alone and sometimes with their flatmates. Lily preferred when it was just her brothers. Teddy and Victoire spent a lot of time at the Potter house as well. Fleur, Ginny, and Victoire were making all sorts of plans for the baby and the nursery and other things Lily really didn't care to know about.

As Lily entered her first year of training and Albus his final year, James finished and started on assignments with his division. He had been assigned directly under Ron and they both found it highly amusing. Harry had to remind them that they were indeed there to work and not cause havoc in the office by unleashing pranks (no matter how boring paperwork was). Lily found training to be exhausting mentally and physically. It was like she graduated from school, only to be put right back into school. She spent hours outside of work studying and preparing for going back to work. As tired as she was, she wouldn't change it for the world. Another surprise came when Victoire went to a Healer and they told her she was expecting not just one child, but two. Teddy had nearly passed out when he heard the news, but was very excited when he came to.

About four months into training, Thomas Thropp, a Hufflepuff from Lily's year, poorly executed a spell and ended up sending himself and six others to St. Mungo's. Lily happened to be one of the unfortunate victims standing in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Honestly, Thropp. What spell were you even trying to do?" Agnus Frey demanded as she clutched her wrist to her chest. The seven inflicted Aurors-in-training, were walking through the entrance of the hospital with a very disgruntled Teddy at the lead.

"I-I-I'm not sure," he muttered back. Every single person who had been hit was experiencing different symptoms. No one was even quite sure what had happened and Teddy ordered Thomas to get his wand checked right after he received medical attention.

"Next time, just try to follow instructions," Marcy Dunn nagged.

"I don't know what any of you are talking about. That went perfectly fine." Five pairs of eyes turned to glare at Peter Gates. Now was not a time that his incessant sarcasm was appreciated.

"Shove off, Gates," Angus spat at him. Teddy marched them straight over to a couple of Healers. They were waiting for their arrival as Teddy had sent his patronus ahead of the group to warn of their coming. Lily was one of the first to be put back in order and wandered off afterwards so she didn't have to keep listen to the squabbling of the group.

"Lily!"

"Alice!" Lily was pleased to find her friend working behind the welcome desk that afternoon.

"What are you doing here?"

"We had an incident during training and had to come here to get a spell reversed. Or at least we think it was a spell..." Lily trailed off, crinkling her nose in confusion.

"Merlin, are you alright?" Alice asked concerned.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Lily assured her. "Just annoyed," she added with an eye-roll. Alice giggled. "Listen if you're free this weekend, I think we should all go out. I know Avery is tired of being cooped up in an office and Grayson has a few days off. I'm sure we could convince Hugo to join us."

"That sounds wonderful. I was actually thinking of sending you an ow-" Alice abruptly stopped and a small frown formed on her face when she spotted something across the room.

"What is it?" Lily asked. "Alice?"

"Oh. Well it's just...uhm..." Lily turned around to see what caught Alice's attention. It seemed as if she was staring at Scorpius Malfoy who had just strode through the lobby and was making his way to the elevators, his mouth in a firm line.

"What?" Lily was still confused. Alice pulled her focus back on Lily, a frown still on her face.

"That's a third time I've seen him come in this week," Alice whispered. "The last few months, he's been in here a couple times a week and he seems to know several Healers pretty well. You know I don't have a tendency to gossip or eavesdrop or care about knowing why people are places, but it seems rather odd. Don't you think?"

"Wouldn't know." Lily shrugged the question off. "I'm not familiar with how often people visit St. Mungo's in a given week."

"Not often. In fact, the only reason people come as often as he does is if they have a family or friend in an extended care situation."

"So maybe he has a friend who's sick," Lily reasoned. She didn't want to think about this subject anymore as flashes of her last conversation with a certain painting were coming back to her.

"Maybe...I hope it's not too serious. I mean it'd be awful if-"

"Hey, I gotta go," Lily interrupted. "It looks like everybody is all sorted out. I'll owl you later today so we can figure out what's happening this weekend. Alright?"

"Okay. Stay safe," Alice told her friend.

"Yes, mum." Lily smirked. "Bye." Alice waved at her friend's retreating form before glancing back over at the elevators. It wasn't any of her business, but she couldn't help wondering who Scorpius was visiting all the time.

• • • • •

"Lily!" A chorus of voices shouted with joy as the Potter girl entered the Leaky Cauldron. She made her way to a booth in the corner where her five friends from school were all waiting.

"Sorry I'm late!" She squeezed Avery's hand in greeting and kissed Grayson's cheek as she slid into the seat next to him. "I went ahead and finished Teddy's paperwork so he could get home to Victoire."

"That's alright. We only all just got here anyway," Hugo told her from the other end of the table.

"How is Auror training?" Elliot asked. The six of them spent the next few hours exchanging stories about their careers or in Elliot's case, his travels. They all seemed to be relatively happy with where they all were in their lives at that point. Lily even noticed Hugo and Avery seemed to be sitting awfully close to each other. She mentioned it to Grayson when they went to the counter to get another round of Butterbeers from the group.

"Are Hugo and Avery together finally?"

"Merlin," Grayson moaned with a roll of his eyes. "Not yet."

"Are you kidding me? They're still not? It was only what...7 years of them dancing around the subject of dating in school?"

"You're telling me. They keep going out just to 'hang out' and then when he comes back, he just complains about how much he likes her but she'll never feel the same way."

"That's a load of crap," Lily snorted. "Avery had been eyeing him since day 1."

"Exactly what I told him! But does Hugo ever listen to anybody? No."

"I'll talk to Avery. Maybe she'll make the first move."

"Wouldn't surprise me if that's how it ended up working out." Grayson turned to give Lily a good once over. "How are you doing really? You seem a little worn down."

"I am," Lily admitted reluctantly. "Training hours are just so long and there never seems to be a break."

"How about this: you come watch my practice next weekend," Grayson proposed, leaning up against the bar.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Your coach won't mind?"

"Course not. Friends and family come all the time to watch. Besides, having a Potter around is like having royalty visit." Grayson received a punch in the arm for his last remark which he laughed off as they carried the drinks back to their table. It was nearing one in the morning by the time they all went their separate ways. As Avery was leaving, Lily pulled her aside.

"You need to ask my cousin out."

"E-excuse me?!" Avery spluttered.

"Don't play dumb with me. We all know the two of you have been suppressing extreme romantic and sexual tension since the first day you met."

"Lily!" Avery flushed pink at her friend's insinuations.

"Am I wrong?" Lily challenged.

"Well...no," she admitted.

"Hugo won't make the first move because he's a useless git. If you ever want things to work out between the two of you, you need to ask him out." Lily watched as Avery processed through the information.

"You're right. I guess I just was waiting to see if he ever would do anything about it. Seems silly that I haven't done anything about it yet."

"So you'll do it?"

"Merlin...yeah alright," Avery relented. Lily squealed.

"I can't wait to have you in the family,"

• • • • •

Christmas Day was a mess of excitement because that morning, Victoire went into labor. The entire family put the celebrations on hold and went to St. Mungo's. Lily was pacing in the waiting area eyeing the clock every few seconds. She knew it was going to take a while because it was twins, but Lily was very impatient. It was when she sighed for the ninth time in twenty minutes that James grabbed ahold of her arm and dragged her into the seat next to his. She then took up nervously tapping her fingers against her knee until James laid his hand over hers, never taking his eyes from his paper. Lily flipped her hand over and laced their fingers together. James reciprocated the squeeze she gave him and glanced over to offer a small smile. It was only when Hugo plopped in the seat on her other side, that she found a way to distract herself.

"Has Avery asked you out yet?"

"Bloody hell, Lily!" Hermione shot her son a glare across the room and he lowered his tone. "What are you asking that for?"

"Well she's my friend and you're my friend. We all want you two to finally make it a thing. Also you're my cousin so you have to confide these things in me."

"I do not!" Hugo tried to protest, even though he knew his arguments were worthless. He caved when Lily jutted out her lower lip and batted her lashes. "Merlin, alright. Just stop giving me that look; you know I hate it." He let out a long sigh. "Yes, we are officially dating."

"Took you bloody well long enough, you prat." Hugo chuckled and shoved Lily into James. Before she could fight him back, Fleur floated into the room. She informed them all Victoire had successfully delivered two healthy little girls named Dora and Dromeda. Lily spent her allotted five minutes in the room with the new parents before returning to the lobby and waited for the rest of her family to finish upstairs. She was discussing which Quidditch teams had chances this season with Louis and Ron when she noticed a familiar head of white-blonde hair. Scorpius was off to the side of the spacious room talking in low tones with Albus, who had a grim look on his face. Tucked under the Malfoy boy's arm were various parcels wrapped in festive colors. She watched Albus give his friend and flatmate and reassuring smile before the somber looking Slytherin headed towards the lifts. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but Lily suddenly had the string urge to find out why Scorpius made so many visits to St. Mungo's. For the time being, she didn't have the opportunity to dwell on those thoughts as the rest of her family rejoined the group downstairs. They finished up unwrapping presents and had a late Christmas dinner before leaving the Burrow for their own homes.

• • • • •

The rest of year one training for Lily went rather well. The hours were long and the job itself was strenuous, but she felt as if it was all worth it. She was just happy that she was continuing to do so well because she watched as the group of 107 slowly dwindled throughout the year until only 63 were left. Even more would drop off before they all finished their third year. Only about 45 would finish the training and only 20 would be offered positions in the Auror department. Lily was determined she would be one of them. One Sunday afternoon in the summer, Lily and Albus both found they had the day off and lounged lazily in the backyard of their childhood home. They were both stretched out on their back underneath a tree, arms propped up behind their heads.

"Albus?"

"Hmm?" He let his head roll to the side and peeked one eye open to look at his sister.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did." He smirked. "Ow!" he cried as his sister kicked him in the knee. "Alright go on then." There was a long stretch of silence and Albus opened his eyes when his sister made no attempt to ask her question. He was about to say something when Lily finally spoke.

"Is everything...alright...with Malfoy?"

"I'm sorry?!" Albus couldn't even attempt to hide his shock at the question his sister had just voiced. "What the hell did you just say to me?" He sat up and turned his torso to look down at Lily. She sat up next to him and he saw tinges of pink on her cheeks.

"Nothing! Forget it," she muttered.

"Uhm no, young lady. You are going to tell me why on earth you have suddenly developed an interest in the guy you haven't spoken more than four words to in ten years."

"Okay here's the thing, Alice works at St. Mungo's ya know as a Welcome Witch at the front desk and around 6 months ago she mentioned that she'd seen Malfoy coming in a lot. Then at Christmas I saw him coming in again. Alice told me that she's continued to see him off and on ever since then. I was just curious to why he keeps visiting. I mean I know it's none of my business really, I just thought I'd ask. You don't have to answer my question I guess, it just seems odd," Lily rambled at a rapid-fire pace.

"Woah! Lily, slow down." Albus placed a hand on the side of her face and turned her towards him.

"Sorry." Lily dropped her head and stared at her fidgeting hands in her lap. They sat together in an extended silence. Lily shifted her gaze from her lap to the trees in the distance. Albus kept his searching eyes on his sister trying to figure out what had brought this on. After a few minutes, Lily looked back at her brother who sighed deeply.

"Merlin, I don't even know why I'm telling you this...but honestly he wouldn't care if you found out," Albus murmured. "Scor's mum is really sick. She has been for a long time now. She stays in St. Mungo's when it gets really bad. That's why he's there so often; he's visiting her." There was another long stretch of silence as Lily processed this new information.

"Gosh, that's...awful. I had no idea."

"Yeah...things haven't been all roses and sunshine for him all his life." Lily knew this comment was partially directed towards her.

"Al, did I ever tell you about who I made friends with in the dungeons?"

"What?"

"I took alchemy lessons with Professor Williams one-on-one in his office. He's got a portrait in his office of Professor Snape and I used to hang out down there with them."

"I'm sorry?"

"It happened after you left school and I didn't really tell anyone about it.

"I had no idea."

"I thought people might think it was weird I was friends with a painting."

"Was?" Albus questioned.

"We got into sort of a fight about my opinions about...things."

"About Slytherins specifically?"

"Uh..." Lily's inability to commit to a response for this questions was answer enough for Albus.

"When are you going to let all of that go, Lils? Hasn't all that silly prejudice for no reason stuff gone on for long enough? You've never had any reason to hate him because you've never given him a chance. I'm not being harsh, I'm being honest with you."

"Merlin, I know. I've been such an ass. I know it's no excuse, but the hatred just feels so ingrained into me. I've always thought I was supposed to hate him, but no one ever told me why. And all those years Ron and George encouraged me and then James and Hugo felt the same way."

"He's never had anything against you, you know?" Albus offered.

"That doesn't make me feel any better. In fact...it sort of makes me feel a lot worse," she groaned and rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands. "Especially now I know about his mum! God, I could just curse myself." Albus put an arm around her and pulled her close into his side.

"I love ya, bug. It'll be fine. And one day when you apologize, which you will because you were an absolute jerk, Scorpius will understand.

"Ya think?"

"I promise," he assured her. Lily had a feeling there was more to Albus' words than he was letting on, but she just snuggled up to him and they enjoyed the rest of the afternoon together.

• • • • •

Lily spent a lot of her free time at the Chudley Cannon team's practices. She enjoyed watching Grayson play, and the coach enjoyed having her around because she was a skilled player herself. He often repeated his offer for her to join the team which she always laughed off with a wave of her hand. It was a cool October morning when Lily found herself watching another practice. The coach blew the whistle to dismiss the team and Grayson landed next to Lily.

"How was that?" he asked, rubbing his wind-chapped nose.

"Better than last week. You're left handed so your weakness is obviously the hoop on your right and the Chasers pick up on that easily."

"Think you can help me practice with that later this week?"

"Well I'm no Chaser, but sure," she said with a smile. "Lunch?"

"Yes, please!"

After Grayson cleaned himself up, the two headed to the Leaky Cauldron to eat. They chatted and laughed through the meal before he wrapped her in a tight hug and promised to pop by later in the week to visit the family for dinner. He had become quite close with a lot of her family and often came by for meals or just to hang out. Ginny had taken a liking to him because he played Quidditch professional like she had. The two of them could talk strategies for hours, even after Lily had left to go entertain herself with someone else. Lily and Grayson thought nothing of hanging out so much until one Daily Prophet article seemed to take an interest in them once again.

"Lily!" Teddy scolded as his basically sister swore loudly and profusely once she read the article people had been making offhanded remarks about all day.

"They've gone and done it again! Not minding their own business and writing nonsense about me and Grayson. We're not even dating this time! He's just the only friend who's schedule is compatible enough with mine to hang out!" Lily ranted, tossing the paper onto her desk. Teddy glanced over and saw the picture was one of Grayson hugging Lily outside of the Leaky Cauldron. He knew first-hand that the picture was depicting what he would call a sibling hug and not a lover's hug. But he supposed no one really cared about to truth, just gossip that would sell.

"It doesn't matter. It's not true anyway."

"It matters because why does everyone care so much about me?" Lily fumed. There was a tense moment of silence before Lily said, "And how am I supposed to get a date if everyone thinks I'm already taken!" Teddy threw his head back in laughter and Lily couldn't help but let her frown turn into a small smirk.

• • • • •

Teddy and Victoire's twins were nearly a year old before they let them out of their sight for a full day. Harry and Ginny had finally convinced the two to go out for a date for an entire day as they watched the girls. Lily was thrilled because this meant she got to babysit the girls too, one of her favourite things. Rose came over around noon to spend time with them. Ginny prepared a picnic for everyone as Harry, Rose, and Lily took them out into the yard to crawl around in the grass. Neither were walking yet, but they took experimental steps here and there and liked to stand up with help. Ginny and Harry went back into the house to take a nap after eating leaving the two girls to chat and watch the toddling babies.

"How's work" Lily asked.

"Fine. How's training?"

"Alright I guess. Pretty hard."

"Don't tell him I said this, but sometimes I really didn't know if Albus was going to make it through training. He complained all the time about how tired he was and how hard the work was."

"You're kidding!" Lily exclaimed with a laugh.

"He really did! I swear the only thing that kept him motivated was Scorpius training alongside him."

"What a git. He always bragged about how easy it was for him."

"Maybe he didn't want to scare you away from the job. You can't tell him I said this either, but he was _ecstatic_ when he found out you made the grade and were going to be in Auror training. He won't ever admit it, but he's excited to work with you."

"Us Potter kids gotta stick together," Lily teased and she helped Dora stand. "So what's this rumor I hear about you hanging about with a Muggle?" Rose flushed at Lily's question and nearly let Dromeda fall to the ground.

"What?" she squeaked.

"Come off it, Rose. I'm not stupid." Rose eyed her cousin warily before sighing.

"His name is Mason and he's really sweet. He's a veterinarian in the Muggle world."

"A what?"

"Kind of like a Healer for animals," Rose explained.

"Are the two of you dating? Because if I'm going to be honest, I kinda really want it to happen."

"We're...taking things slow. He knows about the Wizarding World and everything because his younger brother is a Wizard. But there are no labels on anything and I don't want to scare him off."

"Ohhhhh," Lily squealed. "That's adorable. Rose and Mason sitting in a tree."

"Lily."

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G."

"Lily, are you seven years old?"

"First comes love."

"I do not believe what I'm hearing."

"Then comes marriage."

"I _will_ hit you."

"Then comes a- ROSE I WAS ONLY KIDDING," Lily screeched as Rose tackled Lily to the ground. The twins watched in minor confusion as Rose and Lily wrestled in the grass. Lily was definitely stronger than her older cousin, but was laughing for too hard to be able to exercise that power.

"Merlin, what's gone on here? I thought I'd find the children making a ruckus like this, but certainly not the two of you." The girls stopped and looked up at the backdoor of the Potter home where Albus and Scorpius were standing. Rose quickly hopped up off of her cousin who was still in a fit of giggles on the grass.

"I was just teaching Lily a lesson," Rose explained to her cousin, embarrassed to be caught playing around like that at her age.

"Well clearly she's learned nothing." Albus gestured to his sister who was struggling to regain her composure. Her laughs elicited giggles from the twins which only made Lily laugh harder. "I think I should intervene." Rose and Scorpius watched as Albus grabbed his sister and flung her over his shoulder. Her squeals echoed across the backyard. They smiled as the siblings roughhoused and it was clear Albus let Lily have the upper hand even though he was stronger. It wasn't long before they were out of breath and flopped onto the blanket in the grass. The twins crawled over on top of them, seeking attention.

"What are the two of you doing here?" Lily asked as she sat up. She pulled Dromeda into her lap and placed a kiss on the top of her head.

"Thought we'd stop by during lunch and say hi to our two favourite girls," Albus said sweetly, as he picked up Dora. "Oh and I guess say hi to you and Rose too."

"Hey!"

"Can't hit me! I have a baby!" Albus shouted as Lily scowled in his direction.

"Prat." Albus only laughed at his sister's pout.

"How's the boyfriend?"

"Pardon?" Lily asked as she tried to pull a strand of her bright hair out of Dromeda's chubby hand.

"Grayson. I saw a picture of the two of you in the Prophet along with an article about your scandalous on again off again romance."

"Oh, gross. Grayson and I haven't dated since sixth year, Al, thank you very much! I just go to his Quidditch practices a lot because he's on my favourite team and I gotta make sure they win this year." Albus noticed Lily kept nervously glancing over at where Rose and Scorpius were chatting amicably. Lily did not see the wicked smirk that graced his face.

"Rose, would you mind helping me change Dora's outfit? I'm afraid she's got grass stains all over this one."

"Why do you need me for that?"

"Because I'm rubbish at matching her clothes. Victoire tells me that all the time."

"Then give her to me and I'll do it."

"No I want to go with you!" Albus said as he went into the house. "Come on then!" Rose rolled her eyes, but followed him. Lily watched them leave with a confused frown, but all was made clear when she remembered Scorpius was still out here. She made eye contact with the tall man before standing and making her way over with Dromeda in her arms.

"Hi," she said awkwardly, cursing herself inwardly for being so weird.

"Hi," he responded much warmer than her. "Which one is this? I'm afraid I can't keep the two of them straight?" he asked, pointing at the child.

"This one's Dromeda. You can tell because...well...I'm not really sure how you're supposed to tel them apart. I've just picked up on it after spending so much time with them I guess." Dromeda was rubbing her hands all over Lily's face as she spoke and Lily tried her best to dodge the haphazard touches.

"They certainly are cute."

"Mhmm," Lily hummed in agreement and smiled proudly at Dromeda who gave her a slobbery smile back. Lily was stalling as she worked up to courage to talk to the Malfoy heir about a more serious subject.

"I thought I heard your voice!" Lily cursed under her breath and her father joined the three of them in the backyard. "Good to see you, Scorpius."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter! Enjoying your day off?"

Lily excused herself and went into the house. Her Gryffindor pride was going to make any conversation with Malfoy awkward and she knew a change of heart and mind would benefit both of them.

• • • • •

Christmas was a bigger affair than normal now that the little twins' birthday was on the same day. Combined with every member of the family plus a handful of close friends wanting to spend Christmas at the Burrow and the number of guests reached nearly 50 that year. Lily lasted all day watching presents being opened and the twins eat their first cake, but about 20 minutes into dinner, she had to excuse herself. She grabbed her coat and scarf before slipping out the back door into the garden. It was a chilly night and a light snow fell making it a perfect Christmas Day. She tightly wrapped her scarf around her neck and stuffed her hands in the pockets of her coat before sitting in one of the many chairs that sat in the yard. Lily hummed a tune to herself as she watched the snow fall.

"Next year, we need to cap off the guest list at 30." Lily didn't even need to turn in her chair to now that grumpy voice and door slam both belonged to her favourite cousin.

"That wouldn't even cover the family at this point, Hugo."

"I don't care. We'll make it an RSVP event. First to say they're coming get to attend." He slumped down in the chair next to hers, pulling on gloves. "Merlin, it's cold out tonight."

"Well it's better than being in there." Hugo snorted.

"You got that right." The two sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes. The Potter-Weasley family was incredibly loud and rambunctious so a quiet moment was a precious commodity. Hugo and Lily had spent a lot of time over the years enjoying each other's silent companionship.

"Your hair is getting long," Hugo commented as Lily push d a strand behind her ear.

"I guess. I usually tried to keep it a reasonable length while playing Quidditch so it didn't get caught in anything, but I haven't thought much about it for a few years now."

"Years. Wow...that's crazy to say. It's been that long since we were in school."

"Mmmm," Lily hummed in agreement.

"I never thought I'd say this, but I miss it. A lot. I miss Quidditch and meals in the Great Hall and trips to Hogsmede...I even miss classes!"

"That's a load of hogwash!" Lily laughed. "You never stopped complaining about classes and homework in the seven years we were in school. Constantly moaning about essays and revisions."

"Shove off! It wasn't all the time," Hugo defended himself.

"It bloody well was all the time. Honestly I was convinced sometimes you'd just pull an Uncle Fred and George and leave."

"Lily, get real. You think that was even an option with who my mum is?"

"That's true," she mused. "Can you imagine what her reaction would have been though? Had you dropped out and ran away?" Lily threw her head back in laughter. "I would've paid a lot of money to be there when she got that owl," Lily said through giggles. Hugo tried to scowl at Lily, but couldn't help but laugh with her at the thought of his mother receiving the news that he had run away from all his responsibilities.

As their laughter died down, they heard a less familiar voice. "Mind if I join the two of you?" They turned and saw a sheepish looking Scorpius standing by the back door, hands shoved deep into his coat pockets. Hugo immediately turned to Lily with a furrowed brow.

"Yeah, sure." If looks could kill, Hugo would be guilty of murdering his used-to-be favourite cousin. She returned his glare with a stern look that told him to behave. Scorpius pulled over a chair and plopped down onto it with a sigh. "You alright?"

"I think so," he chuckled. "I've never been to a Christmas with this many people before."

"To be fair, neither have we," Hugo muttered.

"Usually it's just me and my parents. And we never really do much celebrating, just a meal together and exchanging a few gifts."

"Then you must hate this," Lily commented.

"Are you kidding? This is the best Christmas I've ever been to," Scorpius insisted with a broad grin on his face. "Sure I'm a little overwhelmed right now, but can you blame me?"

"There you are!" Albus joined the three wearing a coat as well. "I thought you'd gone and run off."

"Just needed a breather," Scorpius explained. "Seems as if Lily and Hugo felt the same way."

"Tell me about it," Albus sighed, sitting and tightening his coat. "Next year, we spend Christmas at your parents."

"No bloody way!" The group laughed together; it was the first time the four of them shared a moment since they had had become acquainted. It was a pleasant feeling and Albus couldn't be happier at the effort Lily and Hugo were putting forth to get along with his best friend. Lily felt her teeth chatter slightly and knew they wouldn't be able to stay put here much longer without source of warmth. She rubbed her hands together and extended them in the middle of the circle the four of them had formed. A flick of the wrist, and a small fire materialized in the palm of her hand.

"Show off," Albus grumbled.

"Bloody hell!" Scorpius uttered in amazement. "You can do nonverbal _and_ wandless magic?"

"Not very well. Just tricks and useless spells here and there. Enough to impress a small audience, but not enough to actually use it for anything spectacular."

"But you still have a knack for it. I know plenty of people who would give an arm and a leg to do what you just did," Scorpius continued, making Lily's cheeks turn a light shade of pink. Hugo chuckled at this and Lily sent a little flame to lap at his coat sleeve.

"Come off it, mate. She doesn't need you to stroke her ego. The professors have her enough of that at Hogwarts," Albus told his friend with a roll of his eyes.

"Don't let him sell you short," Scorpius said earnestly, locking eyes with the Potter girl. "That's a gift you can go far with." Lily couldn't keep eye contact and let her gaze fall into her lap.

"Thanks," she muttered, embarrassed at the attention, but touched by the sincerity of his words. Albus gave Scorpius a side-eye glance and the blonde awkwardly cleared his throat. The four of them spent the next hour sitting in the backyard just chatting amicably and enjoying the evening. Later that night, as everyone was heading up to bed, Albus pulled his sister aside.

"I love you, you know that right?" he asked her, pulling her into a hug.

"Uhm...yeah? What's gotten into you?"

"I'm just happy that you're making progress with Scorpius, that's all."

"Alright, don't make a big deal about it. I'm just...trying to make up for things. Little by little. Now let me go to sleep, I'm exhausted."

"Night, bug," Albus called after Lily as climbed up the stairs to sleep. Scorpius came up beside Albus and offered a goodnight up the stairs at the various Potter-Weasley family members heading to bed. Albus stared at his friend until he had Scorpius' attention.

"What?"

"I know what you were doing out there?"

"Doing what out where?"

"Just keep the awkward flirting to a minimum around me, okay?" Albus requested as he headed up the stairs himself.

"Thats not...I wasn't...Albus, you prat!"


End file.
